The New Year continued to be very gloomy for Vidarbha farmers as the agrarian crisis here led to the death of nine more farmers in the past 48 hours, including a couple from Amravati district.

According to Nagpur-based Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, the distressed farmer couple Radheshyam Gade (45) and his wife Padma (40) of Budhagad village committed suicide on the midnight of January 1.

“This is a very dangerous signal as this may lead to mass suicides of distressed farm families,” the VJAS convener Kishor Tiwari said. The nine farmers who ended their lives are the Gade couple of Amravati district, Vishnu Chavan in Washim, Amar Jadhav and Akash Suryavanshi from Yavatmal, Naresh Sharnagat and Narendra Diwate from Bhandara, and Nimchand Bhone and Bharat Kharkade from Nagpur district.