Farmer suicides declining steadily: Govt

A total of 123 farmers took their lives due to agrarian causes in 2011 till July end in Maharashtra, as against 454 in 2010, Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

A total of 550 farmers had taken the extreme steps in the Western state in 2009.

Similarly, 109 farmers committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh till February-end in the 2011-12 fiscal, as against 187 in 2010 and 299 in 2009, the minister said.

In Karnataka, 77 cultivators had committed suicide till August in 2010-11 fiscal, vis-a-vis 138 in 2009-10 and 156 in 2008-9, the minister said.

Rawat said the causes of suicide by farmers as reported by the state governments have been because of indebtedness, crop failure, drought, socio-economic and personal.

He attributed decline in cases of farmers suicide to progressive measures taken by the government.

On steps to correct the situation in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), he said the Approach paper to the plan has emphasised on faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth by expansion of farm income, creation of non-farm income opportunities and improvement in productivity of rainfed agriculture.

Accordingly, steps are being taken to increase public investment in agriculture sector, improving technology, rural infrastructure and delivery of credit, he added.

Rawat said other initiatives include implementation of Rehabilitation Package covering 31 districts in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra under which an amount of Rs 19,998.85 crore has been released till September 30, 2011.