India is considered as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Agriculture is the mother of most of the economies in the world. Much of its influence is on the other sectors - industry and service. India is the second largest in farm output after China. Hence, India’s economic security continues to be predicated upon the agriculture sector, and the situation is not likely to change in the near future. Even today, the share of agriculture in employment is about 49% of the population, as against around 75% at the time of independence and it is the principal source of livelihood for more than 58% of the population. The share of agriculture in GDP is 17%. It accounts for 7.68 percent of total global agricultural output. Contribution of Agriculture sector in Indian economy is much higher than world's average (6.1%). China with lesser cultivable land produces double the food grains, i.e. 607 million tons in 2015 -16 as compared with India’s 252 million tons in 2015-16. Farmer suicides account for 11.2% of all suicides in India. GOI informed Supreme Court over 12,000 farmer suicides per year since 2013. As of 2017, large numbers of farmer suicides have occurred in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, M.P, Bihar, UP, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand. According to economist K. Nagaraj, author of the biggest study on Indian farm suicides, even though the farmer population shrinks, the number of farmer suicides are rising in India. The present cropping intensity of 136% has registered an increase of only 25% since independence. Further, in our country, rain fed dry lands constitute 65% of the total net sown area. There is an unprecedented degradation of land (107 million ha) and groundwater resource, and also fall in the rate of growth of total factor productivity. Vicious cycle of poverty, crops failure, illiteracy, high indebtedness, low level of income, low level technology, Government Policies, addiction to alcohol, domestic affairs, old traditions, pessimistic outlook of farmers etc. are other main reasons for agricultural crisis and farmers suicides in India. Agricultural productivity has to be doubled to meet growing demands of the population by 2050. Prof M.S. Swaminathan, a noted Agricultural Scientist said that half of the farmers in the country want to quit farming. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify the severity of the problems of agricultural crisis and farmer suicides in India and ponder over it to find out solutions. The need of the hour is to protect our farmers by all means, thus avoiding their suicides and agrarian crisis. This Paper is an attempt to focus attention on causes of agricultural crisis and farmer suicides in India with special reference to Telangana.

1. Dr. S. Vijay Kumar
Dr. S. Vijay Kumar
Head & Professor (Associate) Retd., Bharat Jyoti Awardee (Glory Of India)
Department of Economics
Kakatiya Government (UG&PG) College (NAAC “A” Grade)
Ex - Member of Board of Studies
Kakatiya University, Warangal – 506 009
Telangana State
AGRICULTURAL CRISIS AND FARMERS SUICIDES IN INDIA
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO TELANGANA

2. Introduction
 India is considered as one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Agriculture is the mother of most of the economies in the world. India is the
second largest in farm output after China.
 Even today, the share of agriculture in employment is about 49% of the
population, as against around 75% at the time of independence. The share of
agriculture in GDP is 17%. It accounts for 7.68 percent of total global agricultural
output. Contribution of Agriculture sector in Indian economy is much higher
than world's average (6.1%). China with lesser cultivable land produces double
the food grains, i.e. 607 million tons in 2015 -16 as compared with India’s 252
million tons in 2015-16. We have to learn several things from China and Israel
regarding various agricultural techniques. Royal Commission on Agriculture
quotation – “Indian farmers born in debt, lives in debt, dies in debt and inherits
debt ” is true even today.
 Vicious cycle of poverty, crops failure, illiteracy, high indebtedness, exploitation
by traders, low level of income, low level technology, Government Policies,
addiction to alcohol, domestic affairs, old traditions, pessimistic outlook of
farmers etc. are the main reasons for agricultural crisis and farmers suicides in
India.
 Prof M.S. Swaminathan, a noted Agricultural Scientist said that half of the
farmers in the country want to quit farming. The need of the hour is protect our
farmers by all means, thus avoiding their suicides and agrarian crisis. This Paper
is an attempt to focus attention on causes of agricultural crisis and farmer
suicides in India with special reference to Telangana.

3. Objectives & Methodology
Objectives:
 Indian Agriculture at a Glance During Different Ages
 Over View of the Current Indian Agriculture Crisis
 Review of Literature
 Farmer Suicides in India and Special Reference to Telangana
at a Glance
 Causes for Agricultural Crisis in India
 Causes for Farmer Suicides in India and Telangana
 Remedial Measures/Suggestions
 Future of Agriculture in India & Conclusion
Methodology: The Study is based on empirical data and
information accessed from different sources like Central
Statistical Organization (CSO), Economic Surveys, GOI
Websites and other relevant Websites. National and
International Journals and Reports.

4. Indian Agriculture at a Glance During Different Ages
 Ancient Indian Agriculture: According to the Markandeya Puraṇa, Brahma was
regarded as the first inventor of Agriculture. According to Rig Veda, cultivated
fields are called kṣetra and fertile ones as urvara. The term krsti in Rig Veda
denotes agriculturists. In Bhagvat Gita Lord Krishna had identified himself has
Ashawatha Vruksham (Pipal). “Ashawatha Sarva Vrukshanam Shrestam.”
Kautilya in ‘Arthashasthram’ gave crop yield forecasting methods and described
agriculture as the basis of business and trade.
 Indian Agriculture During Pre - British Period: Historical evidence shows that
India was a very powerful agricultural as well as commercial and industrial power
on the earth prior to the advent of the British. Roman women’s passion for Indian
cloth. Indian textiles, became very popular in England and William III of England in
1700 A.D. prohibited the entry of Indian textiles by imposing a fine of pounds 200 to the
wearer or the seller of Indian silk and calico. “Between 1762 and 1766 there were
villages which produced up to 12 tons of paddy/hectare (Chengalpattu data about
pre - British India). This is possible only in the Green Revolution areas.
 Indian Agriculture During British Period: Commercialization of agriculture
became prominent around 1860 A.D. During the later part of 19th century, the
production of commercial crops increased by 85 percent and that of food crops
fell by 7 percent. This had a devastating effect on the rural economy and often
took the shape of famines. According to the Census of 1881, 72 percent of the
whole male population engaged in some specific occupation are directly
supported by Agriculture.

5. Recent Scene of Indian Agriculture
 “The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and
perfection of human beings.” (Masanobu Fukuoka – a soil scientist from Japan).
Frequent criticism against Indian planning is that, it has not given adequate priority
to agriculture, which is responsible for most of the problems it is facing today. Green
revolution and lobbying of agriculture in 1970s and 1980s did not not sustain and gave
its way to a declining agricultural growth and its share in GDP due to demographic
pressure leading to marginalization, declining input-output parity causing decline in
profitability, etc. If we won’t give due importance to agriculture, we have to pay price
for it and we may have to import food grains from other countries.
 Annadata sukhi bhava is our culture, means the food donor/provider i.e. farmer
should be always be healthy and happy. But, the reality is contrast to this saying.
India, the world’s second largest food producer, is facing a situation where farmers
are found to quit farming or even worse –‘Quitting their lives’. Former Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan said that debt waiver schemes of central and
state governments have not benefited farmers as they restricted credit flow
subsequently. Credit waiving is in installments and not at once, hence it is a blow to
farmers, because unless loan is not completely waived, farmers will not get fresh
loans. About 60% of the farmers take loan only to purchase fertilizers, seeds,
pesticides etc. Approximately 62 per cent of farmers were not aware of MSP. Among
those who had heard about MSP, most of them were not satisfied with the rates of
crops decided by the government. Farmers are failing to recover even their capital, let
aside their profit and labour charges. Nowadays, farmers are not getting adequate
support from the government as industry is getting in the form SEZs etc. All these
problems eventually propelled agrarian distress in the country and the present
epidemic of farmers’ suicide is the outburst of such distress.

6. Farmer Suicides in India at a Glance
 According to study by Nagraj (2008) based on National Crime Records Bureau
(NRCB), every seventh suicide in the country was a farm suicide during 1997-2006.
 Male farm suicide increased quite rapidly at a rate of 3% per annum in 1997-2006, while
female farm suicide rate was almost static. The National Crime Records Bureau
of India reported in its 2012 annual report, that 1,35,445 people committed suicide
in India, of which 13,755 were farmers (11.2%). Of these, 5 out of 29 states
accounted for 10,486 farmers suicides (76%) – Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala.
 GOI informed Supreme Court over 12,000 farmer suicides per year since 2013. In
2014, the National Crime Records Bureau of India reported 5,650 farmer suicides. The
highest number of farmer suicides were recorded in 2004 when 18,241 farmers
committed suicide. The farmers suicide rate in India has ranged between 1.4 and
1.8 per 100,000 total population, over a 10-year period i.e. 2005 – 2015.
 In 2016, by April 116 farmers have committed suicide due to agrarian reasons,
with maximum cases reported in Maharashtra, followed by Punjab and
Telangana. More than 2,000 farmers’ suicide cases were reported due to agrarian
reasons in 2015 with highest number of 1,841 cases in Maharashtra alone.
 Most of the suicides in India are attributed to debt trap, exploitation by traders,
crops failures, failure of continuous monsoons and drought. As of 2017, large
numbers of farmer suicides have occurred in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,
Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, M.P, Bihar, UP, Chattisgarh, Orissa and
Jharkhand. According to economist K. Nagaraj, author of the biggest study on
Indian farm suicides, even though the farmer population shrinks, the number of
farmer suicides are rising in India.

7. Special Reference to Farmer Suicides in Telangana
•The State of Telangana was formed on 2nd June, 2014 as 29th State of India. Most of
the agriculture in Telangana is dry land farming and dependent on monsoon,
tanks, dug wells and bore wells due to lack of sufficient irrigation facilities.
•Farmers’ organisations point out that there are around 2 million functional bore
wells in Telangana. With Rs 60,000 as the average cost of setting up one bore well,
farmers in Telangana have invested Rs 12,000 crore on bore well irrigation.
•Of the seven hours of free power promised by the government, farmers receive only
two to three hours of electricity to run the wells. Additionally, for every functional
bore well, there are two to three failed bore wells. Due to ground water depletion,
most of the bore wells failed. There are many farmers who dug up10 to 10-12 bore
wells for search of water. Due to lack of institutional credit for digging bore wells
farmers are forced to borrow from private money lenders at exorbitant interest
rates and lack of fresh bank loans in the monsoon crop season are the reasons
causing farmers to fall into debt traps.
•Major reason being bore wells failure for famer suicides in Telangana, other
reasons are: crop loss, withering crops, rising debts, no returns, poor growth of
crops, personal and other. Due to delay in waiving of crop loans farmers not only
failed to avail fresh loans, but have also been deprived of crop insurance. Banks
usually deduct insurance premium while issuing crop loans. Due to this a majority
of the farmers in Telangana cannot get insurance benefit if the crop fails.

8. Special Reference to Farmer Suicides in Telangana
 In 2013, according to the National Crime Record Bureau, over 2,000
farmers committed suicide in the undivided Andhra Pradesh; 1,400 were
from Telangana. Most of the farmers who have committed suicide are
cotton growers and tenant farmers.
 According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 898 farmers
committed suicides in Telangana during 2014, which was the second
highest number in the country after Maharashtra.
 State Government failed to provide crop insurance at par with industry.
Failure of crops almost always renders the farmers incapable of paying
back the loan installments, and if crops fail in two or more consecutive
seasons, farmers invariably find themselves in a debt trap and
committing suicides.
 In 2015, NCRB statistics show that Telangana witnessed more suicides by
women farmers. It also ranked second where farmers ended their lives
due to poverty. Twenty Telangana farmers ended their lives due to
poverty, next only to Maharashtra (27), but high compared to AP (13).
 Suicides due to illness were also recorded by the NCRB and Telangana
stood third with 160 cases. Data prepared by NGO Rayathu Swarajya
Vedika (RSV) reveals a whooping 3,026 farmer suicide in newly formed
state of Telangana since its inception (2/06/2014 to 28/06/2017).

9. Number of Farmer Suicides And Their Percentage in India (2014)
Sl. No. States Number of Suicides
in 2014
% of farmer Suicides
to all India total in
2014
1 Maharashtra 2,568 45.5
2 Telangana 898 15.9
3 Madhya Pradesh 826 14.6
4 Chhattisgarh 443 7.8
5 Karnataka 321 5.7
6 Andhra Pradesh 160 2.8
7 Kerala 107 1.9
8 Tamil Nadu 68 1.2
9 Uttar Pradesh 63 1.1
10 Gujarat 45 0.8
11 Punjab 24 0.4
12 Haryana 14 0.3
13 West Bengal - -
14 Other states 105 1.9
15 UT's 8 0.1
Source: NCRB 2015.
---------------------------
NCRB publication of
Chhattisgarh and
---------------------------
2014 reported 5650
Karnataka States
5650
------------------------------
farmer suicides in the
together accounts
100.00
-----------------------------
country. M.S, T.S, M.P,
for 89.5 Percentage

10. States with high Suicides in Farming Sector (2015)
Sl. No. State No. of Farm Suicides Share of total %
1 Maharashtra 3,030 37.8
2 Telangana 1,358 17
3 Karnataka 1,197 14.9
4 Chhattisgarh 854 10.7
5 Madya Pradesh 581 7.3
6
Source: NCRB
--------------------------
In 2015, Maharashtra
M.P & A.P. 2015 saw
Andhra Pradesh
--------------------------
is the highest in farm
8,007 farmer suicides
516
--------------------------
suicides followed by
when compared to
6.4
--------------------------
T.S, K.S, Chattisgarh
5,650 in 2014.

11. Sl. No. Year State No. of Farm
Suicides
Year State No. Farm
Suicides
1 2016 Maharashtra 3052 2017 in Jan.
to April.
Maharashtra 852
2 Feb. 2016 to
mid of Feb.
2017
Madya
Pradesh
1982 2017 Madya
Pradesh
------
3 2016-17 (11
Months)
Karnataka 848 2017 Karnataka 51
2014 Telangana 898 --------- ----------- ------------
2015 Telangana 1358 --------- ------------ ------------
4 2016 Telangana 774 2017 Telangana 155
5
Source:
First Post.
Telangana -
Regarding
------------
Among all
There were
2016
NCRB,
Regarding
Rythu
Karnataka
------------
the states
higher
Tamil Nadu
HT
(14/04/17)
Maharastra.
Swarajya
The Hindu
-----------------
Maharastra
farmer
200(Un Official)
Report and
Bangalore
Vedika.
(20/04/2017)
----------------
stood highest
suicides
2016-17
Assembly
Mirror
India Today
--------------
in all years.
when
Tamil Nadu
Statement
(10/04/2017),
(23/04/2017)
------------------
In Telangana
compared
30 (Official)
of MP
Karnataka.
in case of TN.
-----------
in 2015,
to 2014,16&17.

12. Total Farm Suicides: Farmers and Agricultural Labourers in India (2013 - 2016)
Year Farm Suicides (Farmers &
Agri. Labourers)
2013 11772
2014 12360
2015 12602
2016
Source: NCRB ADSI Annual Reports.
-------------------------------------------------
For 2016, the NCRB’s ADSI report is still
suicides for 2016 is mainly from5States: MS,
States in India in all years, Maharashtra is the
6867 Mainly from MS,MP,KS,TS & TN
---------------------------------------------------------------
awaited. The reported data of around 6, 867
MP, KS, TS and Tamil Nadu. Among all the
highest in farmer suicides.

13. Causes for Agricultural Crisis in India
Globalization: Globalization integrated Indian economy with global economy in 1991.
Economic growth improved significantly in the post-reform period. However, the
problems of globalization have not been seriously addressed by the government
policies and strategies, especially with regard to agriculture sector. One of the
excluded sectors during reform period is agriculture, which showed low growth and
experienced more farmers’ suicides due to fake and terminal seeds, low prices and
inadequate agricultural policies. There is disconnection between employment
growth and GDP growth. In other words, employment generation is slow in
industry and services where growth is high. On the other hand, GDP growth is low
in agriculture where majority are employed. India shifted its cropping pattern from
less-remunerative food grains to high-value and export-oriented cash crops i.e.
commercial crops.
Declining Growth Rates of Agriculture: Declining growth rate of agriculture in the early
reform period (1991-92 to 1996-97) from 3.66% to 1.2% per annum in 2015-16.
Lack of Easy and Cheap Loan to Agriculture: The National Commission for Agriculture,
headed by Dr M.S. Swaminathan, pointed out that removal of the lending facilities and
concessions of banks during the post-reform period have accelerated the crisis in
agriculture. When the farmers were not able to pay back loan with high interest, they fell
into the debt trap. Studies show that most of the farmers’ suicides are due to the debt
trap. As they are not provided with other non – agricultural loans for their personal
needs like for marriages of their daughters and children education etc; are also
some of the reasons for their frequent debt trap.
Low level of Income of Small Farmers: Price is income for any producer.
Industrialists can the fix the prices of their products. But, unfortunately in our
country, it is pitiable that the farmers cannot fix the prices of their crops. Our
farmers are not getting reasonable prices for their produce, hence low incomes.

14. Causes for Agricultural Crisis in India
 Small and Fragmented Land-Holdings: Sub-division and fragmentation of the
holdings is one of the main causes of for low agricultural productivity and backwardness
of agriculture.
 Shortage of Quality Seeds: Seed is a critical and basic input for attaining higher crop
yields and sustained growth in agricultural production. Unfortunately, good quality
seeds are out of reach of the majority of farmers, especially small and marginal
farmers mainly because of exorbitant prices of better seeds. Some of the multi-
national and other companies selling fake and terminal seeds and fake
pesticides causing farmers’ suicides. In the olden days farmers used to prepare
their own seeds for future crops. But, today most of the farmers are dependent on
seeds supplied by companies. Due to this, MNCs and other seed companies are
exploiting our farmers.
 Lack of Mechanization: In spite of the large scale mechanization of agriculture in
some parts of the country, most of the agricultural operations in larger parts are manual.
 Farmers Decreased - Farm Labourers increased - 2011 Census Report: Decrease in
the number of farmers is an indication of agricultural crisis.
 Minimum Support Price: Most of the farmers in our country are poorly educated
and unaware of MSP. Hence, they sell their at lower rate than MSP. Even though,
some of farmers have knowledge regarding MSP they say that MSP is lower for
most of the crops they produce and hence it will not fetch reasonable income to
them.

15. Causes For Farmer Suicides in India and Telangana
 Economic Factors: Prime Economic factor is the volatility in price rises as speculators or
intermediaries in the commodities market determine the prices rather than the farmers
and consumer. Farmers are exploited by these intermediaries.
 Social factors: Education of children, marriage of daughters, performing traditional
rituals like births and deaths etc.
 Physical factors:. Increase in the number of pesticides has a detrimental effect on
the health of farmers. Genetically Modified (GM) crops and suicide rates amongst
farmers. Incidents of farmers drinking pesticides to commit suicide, against GM
crops. Factors such as declining ground water level, falling levels of soil nutrients and
climate change affect farmers and farming negatively. Agriculture in India is still
labour intensive
 Other factors: Lack of knowledge regarding MSP, Unfavourable Weather Conditions,
Impact of Pest Infestation or Unpredictable Animal Disease. In India, insurance
market has not developed enough to deal with such uncertainties. These factors
together lead to high stress levels and without a support system farmers tend to opt
for options such as self-mutilation or suicide.
 Farm population per hectare increased whereas per capita income has declined:
A Study by the NCAER shows, average farm holding size is declining, at 1.6 hectares in
2010-11 compared to 1.23 ha in 2005-06 and 2.26 ha in 1970-71. Due to insufficient
income small farmers are forced to take debts. In the event of failure to repay debts,
they are committing suicides.
 Decline in farm land due to urbanization and SEZs: According to NRCB, 72% of
farmers who commit suicides have less than 2 hectares of land. Allotting agricultural
lands as SEZs to industrialists, which in turn reduces the cultivable land. The
examples of Nandigram in West Bengal and Rajasthan (“Arre arre chor aaya re…SEZ
layare!” So goes rallying cry) may be cited, where farmers resisted against
governments. The government may allot uncultivable lands (Barren lands) as SEZs to
industrialists, but not agricultural lands.

16.  Bankruptcy/indebtedness and family problems: According to NCRB for 2014, the main
reason behind farmer suicide is bankruptcy/indebtedness and family problems which
claimed 1,163 and 1,135 farmer’s lives respectively. As per NCRB data, “bankruptcy and
indebtedness” witnessed the sharpest spike in 2015, registering an almost three-fold
increase (3,097) as compared to 2014 (1,163).
 Failure of Bore Wells: . In Telangana there are many farmers who dug up10 to 12 bore wells
for search of water. Due to lack of institutional credit facilities for digging bore wells,
farmers are forced to borrow loans from private money lenders at exorbitant interest rates,
in the event of failure to repay loans farmers are committing suicides.
 Money Lenders: Usually local money lenders are portrayed as the villains in India’s farmer-
suicides narrative, but the government data 2015 shows that 80 per cent of farmers suicides
are due to bankruptcy or due to taking loans from banks and registered microfinance
institutions.
 Irregular Income of Farmers: There is no regular income for farmers, especially for small farmers.
Due to irregular income of farmers, there is surge in suicides, especially of small farmers.
In Maharashtra, due to irregular income of agriculture, young bride grooms are not
finding their brides.
 Some Other Reasons: Farm-related issues like crop failure forced 769 farmers to end their lives
in Maharashtra, followed by 363 in Telangana, 153 in Andhra Pradesh and 122 in Karnataka. Family
problems (933) and illness (842) were other top reasons for suicides among farmers in 2015,
according to NCRB data. Rising input costs, lack of remunerative prices both at the
government procurement level and private sector purchases and lack of extension services. Poor
Irrigation facilities, Droughts, Absence of credit facilities, Worsened quality of soil due to
excessive use of fertilizers, Alcohol addiction and Lack of skills to opt for alternate when
farming seems non profitable are some are the reasons behind an increase in incidents of
farmers' suicides.
Causes For Farmer Suicides in India and Telangana

17. Remedial Measures/Suggestions
 Attract Youth: According to eminent Agricultural Scientist M. S. Swaminathan, Indian
agriculture must become profitable to boost farmers' income and attract youth to the
farm sector. He also advised for including pulses under the National Food Security Act
(NFSA) to deal with the issue of deficiency of protein and micro-nutrients. He said the
country should move from “Food Security for All” to "Nutritional Security for All".
 Extending all fruits of research work for the benefit of all farmers.
 Pro-active and Prompt Responses: Agriculture in India is largely rain fed and
therefore, heavily relies on nature. Factors like excessive monsoon or deficient
rainfall, extremely hot and dry weather. Droughts have direct effect on the
performance of the agriculture. While these risks can never be entirely eliminated,
they can be reasonably addressed through pro-active and prompt responses.
 Consolidation of Holdings and Cooperative Farming
 Increasing Competitiveness Among Farmers- It is imperative to raise the agricultural
competitiveness among small holding farmers. Productivity improvement to increase the
marketable surplus must be linked to assured and remunerative marketing
opportunities. Government must support farmers in every aspect to increase their
productivity, marketing their produce and eliminate middle men in this era of
globalization to withstand in the global competition.
 Extending Irrigation Facilities: Irrigation facilities should be extended by by linking
all the rivers in India, while doing so, care must be taken to safeguard against ill
effects of over irrigation especially in areas irrigated by canals.
 Political Economy of Agriculture: There is a feeling that governments (Central and
State) promise a lot for agriculture without much allocations and implementation.
Hence, the governments should come up to the expectations of farmers.
 Compensation should be given to all those farmers’ who have suffered even one-third
loss, by relaxing the existing criterion of minimum damage of at least 50 per cent.

18. Remedial Measures/Suggestions
 Neglect by the government: Government should control over the rate of interest.
Punishment to the traders and moneylenders should be meted out charging higher rate of
interest.
 Mechanization of Agriculture
 Measures for Soil Erosion: Large tracts of fertile land suffer from soil erosion by wind and
water. This area must be properly treated and restored to its original fertility.
 Excessive Use of Chemical Fertilizers for long time without caring much for replenishing
has led to depletion and exhaustion of soils resulting in their low productivity. Hence,
suitable measures should be taken to restore the fertility loss of agricultural lands.
 Need for Regulated Markets
 Scientific Storage Facilities: Scientific storage facilities are very essential to avoid losses and
to benefit the farmers and the consumers. In Telangana, farmers are encouraged to use
solar cold storage facilities.
 Approach Roads: There is a need for well connected approach roads for farmers to sell their
produce in the regulated markets.
 Credit facilities: M.S. Swaminathan Commission for Agriculture has recommended a
low rate of four per cent interest to the farmers.
 Support Price: According to the Swaminathan Commission, unless agriculture is
made a profitable enterprise, its present crisis cannot be solved. The Commission has
suggested 50 per cent more of the total production cost as supportive price for food
grains.
 Revise SEZ Policy: The recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission not to
acquire land suitable for agriculture for non-agricultural purposes, to give adequate
compensation for the acquired land and to distribute surplus land to the landless
farmers should be seriously taken into account in reframing the SEZs Policy.

19. Remedial Measures/Suggestions
 Implementation of Land Reforms: According to Amartya Sen, the Nobel Laureate, though the economic growth
rate of India is impressive, India cannot play a significant role in the global economic scenario unless it completes
land reforms. Steps should be taken to implement land reforms which were not implemented in most States.
 Crop Insurance: Despite having approximately 60 per cent of the gross cropped area rain fed, agricultural insurance
mechanism in India is very weak. In India, the net sown area is around 140 million hectare and the gross cropped
area hovers between 190-200 million hectare, but insured area is only 15 million hectare. However, the US and
China are the world’s biggest crop insurers. In the US, the state supports almost 70 per cent of premiums paid by
farmers. In China, the state used to support 50-65 per cent of premiums, which was raised to almost 80 per cent in
2013.
 Revival of Agricultural Policy: To achieve 4% growth and equity in agriculture, the supply and demand side
constraints have to be removed. The support systems have to be tuned to improve productivity and incomes of
farmers with emphasis on small and marginal farmers and dry land areas.
 Demand Side Issues: (a) Adequate insurance is needed for those carrying out diversification with in agriculture or
from agriculture to non- agriculture. (b) Social security should be provided for the unorganized workers also.
Loans may be provided to small farmers for side business to organize small businesses like kirana as security
against crop failures due to several reasons.
 Subsidies: Developed countries, while they offer subsidies to their farmers and reluctant to cut them. At the same,
they argue to cut subsidies to farmers in developing countries like us. Hence, India should stress on the
implementation of Uruguay round agreements to reduce subsidies and other distortions caused by policies
pursued by developed counties.
 Direct Cash Transfer or in Kind: We should reorient food and fertilizer subsidies by moving to cash transfer or in
kind in the form of quality seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc. to identified beneficiaries. This will help in reducing
leakages and will also help in curbing corruption and will make process more transparent. C.M K. C. R
announced that about 55 lakh farmers in Telangana will get fertilizers free of cost from the next financial year
(2018-19). The government will deposit money directly into the bank accounts of farmers in the last week of May
well ahead of the 2018 kharif season. Each farmer is likely to get about Rs. 4,000/acre.
 Open Markets - Farmers must have the freedom to sell their produce to anyone, anywhere. Taxes, levies and
commissions on agricultural commodities across states need to be rationalized to less than 4 per cent, currently it is
ranging from less than 2 per cent in Gujarat to about 14.5 per cent in Punjab. It is advised to encourage the farmers to
sell their produce in the similar way like “Rythu Bazars” i.e. to say all the medium and small farmers should sell
their produce by establishing cooperative markets themselves in order to eliminate “middle men”.
 Special Agriculture Zones (SAZs) - SAZs should be designed to conserve prime farm land so that we do not revert
to a ship-to-mouth existence.

20. Remedial Measures/Suggestions
 Mandatory Rainwater Harvesting in all farms for crop-life-saving irrigation
if there is a prolonged dry spell. Wherever farms are small, community
rainwater harvesting can be promoted.
 Seed Banks: In case there is a prolonged dry spell between rains, seedlings may
wither. Therefore, seed banks with alternative short-duration crops should
be built up and the choice of alternative crops could be according to both home
needs and market demand.
 Challenges/Goals:
 To achieve 4% growth in agriculture and raise incomes of the farmers.
 Ensuring that agricultural growth responds to food security needs
 sustainability of agriculture by focusing on environmental concerns.
 Raising agricultural productivity per unit of land
 Reducing rural poverty through a socially inclusive strategy that
comprises both agriculture as well as non-farm employment
 To fulfill these challenges/Goals, the following actions are required:
 (1). Price Policy; (2). Investment in infrastructure & Subsidies; (3) Land
and Water Management including land issues; (4) Inputs including
agricultural credit and technology; (5) Domestic and International trade
Reforms; (6) Diversification, marketing and rural non-farm sector; (7).
Sharing growth is also important. Ere one has to concentrate on small
and marginal farmers, lagging regions and women. Institutions are
needed in all these aspects.

21. •Provide affordable health insurance and revitalize primary healthcare
centres.
•Set up State level Farmers' Commission with representation of farmers for
ensuring dynamic government response to farmers' problems.
•Restructure microfinance policies to serve as Livelihood Finance, i.e. credit
coupled with support services in the areas of technology, management and
markets.
•Cover all crops by crop insurance with the village and not block/Mandal as
the unit for assessment.
•Provide for a Social Security net with provision for old age support and
health insurance.
•Promote aquifer recharge and rain water conservation.
•Ensure availability of quality seed and other inputs at affordable costs and
at the right time and place.
•Recommend low risk and low cost technologies which can help to provide
maximum income to farmers.
•Need swift action on import duties to protect farmers from international
price.
•Set up Village Knowledge Centres (VKCs) or Gyan Chaupals in the farmers'
distress hotspots. These can provide dynamic and demand driven
information on all aspects of agricultural and non-farm livelihoods and also
serve as guidance centres.
•Public awareness campaigns to make people identify early signs of suicidal
behavior.

22. Future of Agriculture in India & Conclusion
 The prospects for Indian agriculture are good. The agriculture sector in India is
expected to generate better momentum in the next few years due to increased
investments in agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation facilities,
warehousing and cold storage. Factors such as reduced transaction costs and
time, improved port gate management and better fiscal incentives would
contribute to the sector’s growth. And also, the growing use of genetically
modified crops will likely improve the yield for Indian farmers. Demand will
grow fast and if we create the correct incentive and organization systems the
Indian farmer will not fail us as he has responded well in the past when our
policies were supportive.
 Conclusion: Indian farmers are very hard working. The only answer to the
present agricultural crisis and farmers suicides is that they should be shown the
right path and extended help from all the quarters i.e. from Government,
community and all middle men must removed. The next stage of reforms in
agriculture has to focus on developing institutions for better delivery systems.
Agriculture can be ignored at our own peril. If we want inclusive growth, both
Central and State Governments have to focus on agriculture sector. Let us hope
that Government has the political will to implement the policies effectively and
help the farmers without testing their patience. The words of Dr M.S.
Swaminathan are relevant here: “In a country where 50 per cent of people depend
on agriculture for their livelihood, it is better to become an agricultural force
based on food security and nutritional security rather than a nuclear force.”

23. Thank You
For Your Patience Listening