Farmer's Suicides in India

What if farmers do not exist anymore? Can we imagine our life without farmers ?

No, Certainly Not.

Every day,28 people dependent on farming hang themselves to death as per NCRB, 2019.The actual count may be higher as the police follow a strict definition of a farmer. Those who have a land title to their name are considered farmers. So, If a farmer working on his father's plot kill themselves, they are not counted as farm suicides.

Add agricultural laborers and tenant farmers and the total will surely increase.
The farmer count has fallen by 9 million since 2001, which make the increased data much more alarming.

Let me tell you what will happen without farmers or ranchers. How important is a farmer to a country? 
There will be no one to cultivate crops for us. Agriculture would be badly affected and there will be a massive price rise of commodities in the market.
People will start eating more non-veg. But what do carnivores eat? Herbivores. And herbivores eat those crops. Not only the food chain but the economy will also be adversely affected.
The economy of a country can swindle within a matter of months, if not days.
Moreover, situations like Starvation, Epidemics can arise due to the condition.
So, Why wait for another epidemic to come? Why not take action beforehand?

Farming, In general causes a high level of stresses, since farmers and their families work under the most stressful conditions such as financial problems, time pressures, diseases, government policies, heavy workload and unpredictable weather.
Farmers do not just work till the sun goes down. They work till the job gets done.
It is time to rethink how each of us can help our farmers, even in small ways.

• Provision of relief should enable farmers’ families to sustain a livelihood rather than as just a relief. In certain cases in Andhra Pradesh, a few farmers committed suicide just so their families could get the relief packages.
• The government should also try to pool lands of small farmers and convert them into bigger chunks of economically cultivable land.
• Technological advancements in agriculture should be made available to poor farmers as well.
• Effective and timely counselling should be given to farmers on economic methods of cultivation and for mental health as well.
• Small farmers should be advised on alternate sources of income and given training for the same.

There is no single sure-shot method to reduce the burden on our farmers.
Now, let me ask you a simple question? How often do we mention farmers whenever we talk about the important persons of a country or our life. We do mention parents, teachers, doctors, leaders but we rarely mention farmers while we need a farmer at least twice a day.

We can't thank our farmers enough who bring abundance to our tables with their labor.