Up to July this year, Vidarbha in Maharashtra has already witnessed over 800 farm suicides (according to the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti). Adding to the region’s misery was the dry spell in June, right after cotton and soya bean were sown.

The Centre and State have both announced relief packages and loan waivers for farmers, but that seems inadequate to halt the spate of deaths. Maharashtra clocked 60,750 suicides between 1995 and 2013, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau.

In yet another attempt to address the issue, the State government plans to introduce vulnerability mapping in the two worst-affected districts — Yavatmal in Vidarbha and Osmanabad in Marathwada, which have reported over 200 farm suicides this year.

There are plans to rope in local health workers, including Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), to screen vulnerable and depressed farmers. The move comes after a survey in four villages in Yavatmal in February this year revealed that a significant number of farmers were suffering from clinical depression.

Since April a counselling centre for farmers has been functioning in the Yavatmal government hospital under the guidance of Dr Prashant Chakkarwar, a psychiatrist. The doctor had assisted the district administration in the mental health survey. The results of project Umed, as it was christened, pointed to the dire need for mental health assessments in rural areas, especially Vidarbha, where the government’s own study had identified over four lakh distressed farmers in 2006.

The four villages surveyed — Tirzada, Pimpri Kalga, Bhambraja and Dahegaon — already showed a high number of farm suicides. While in Tirzada and Pimpri Kalga the survey covered all inhabitants aged above 18, in the rest it was restricted to heads of families. It found that 10-12 per cent of those aged above 18 suffered from severe depression and needed medicines along with counselling, while 50-55 per cent suffered mild to moderate depression, which could be treated with counselling alone. The reasons for depression included repeated crop failure, heavy indebtedness, poor prices for crops, uncertain rainfall, and an increase in input costs accompanied by low returns.

So far over 160 farmers have visited the counselling centre, which has two trained social workers. The National Commission on Farmers had suggested sending hope generation teams comprising students and academics to boost the morale of farmers in Vidarbha.

There has also been some talk of a helpline for farmers. Studies abroad have linked higher rates of depression and suicide to long-term use of pesticides. This is an angle that has not been much explored in India and would need looking into.

The writer is an organic farmer based in Dahanu, Maharashtra

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW