Farmers suicide due to agri reasons drop sharply in 2011: Govt

Maharashtra (Vidarbha regions), Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka which had witnessed large numbers of farmers suicide cases earlier have registered sharp fall in such unfortunate incidents, Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

Rolling out the data, Rawat said Maharashtra has reported 79 cases of suicides by farmers so far in 2011, against 234 in the previous year. A total of 503 farmers had taken the extreme step in the state in 2009 due to agrarian reasons that had shocked the country.

Likewise, Andhra Pradesh has registered 42 cases of farmers suicide in 2011 so far as compared to 152 in 2010. It was 296 in 2009. Karnataka, which had reported 77 cases of farmers suicides in 2010, has not witnessed any incident this year, Rawat added.

The minister said that as reported by the state governments, reasons for suicides by farmers were factors like indebtedness, crop failure, drought, socio-economic and personal issues.

Rawat said in order to revitalise agriculture and improve condition of farmers on a sustainable basis, the government has hugely increased public investment in agriculture through various schemes like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY), National Food Security Mission and National Horticulture Mission among others.