Paper Details

Farmer suicides have always been an issue of major contention amongst the political and academic circles of our country. This is especially so for the case of cotton farmers. This study looks to establish a relationship between prices given to cotton farmers and rising farmer suicides. We mainly use the data starting from cropping year 1990-91 to cropping year 2015-16. This data has been for the most part collected form the databases of Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) as well as the annual reports on Suicides and Accidental Deaths released by National Crime Records Bureau. We try to take into account all such factors that can be controlled, either through policy or by direct intervention of farmers themselves. The results show that though there exists a certain relationship between cotton prices and farmer suicides they are not entirely caused by the prices. This is only one possible explanation for the farmer suicides. The results also reveal that in recent years i.e. from the years 2010 onwards we have been seeing a steady decline in overall suicide rates among the farmer communities in the country. This is mainly due to two important factors, these being favorable policy implementations that relived some of the previously existing massive financial burdens for the farmers and farmers being able to generate higher yields at economic rates.

Farmer’s suicide, Cotton Corporation of India, Financial Burden