Church calls for cancellation of farmers' debt

Hundreds of suicides whilst the authorities are incapable of coping with drought.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) – The Catholic Church in the Indian State of Kerala has called for the cancellation of farmers' debts and a modest compensation for the friends and relatives of victims of debt-motivated suicide. Just in Wynad district (northern Kerala) there have been more than 100 suicides in the last few months. In Kerala, the Church is backed by local community groups and the Left Democratic Front led by the Communist Party of India.

Finding a solution is however an India-wide problem. In the Vidarbha region of prosperous Maharashtra State, 330 farmers have killed themselves in the last three years. In the last few weeks, another 14 did the same, 9 just in the first half of July, with one dying of a heart attack from seeing his second crop fail because of drought. Figures are worse in Andhra Pradesh where over 3,000 farmers are believed to have committed suicide because of their crippling debt load.

Because crop failure is caused by a monsoon-related drought, farmers are forced to borrow from state banks, coops or private individuals to plant for a second harvest. When they cannot repay their loans they take their lives. And this year, drought is also threatening the second harvest.

One of the worst situations is in Nagpur, Maharashtra. "If it does not rain –and rain well– in the next eight to 10 days," said Nagpur Divisional Commissioner Shailesh Kumar Sharma, "40% of all the crops will be destroyed. If there is no rain for 15 days, the situation will get very serious." Still, Mr Sharma added, the authorities were not willing to write off farmers' debt any time soon.

Maharashtra's former energy minister Manikrao Thakre said that writing off debts was not a sustainable solution to farmers' problems. Experts go further and warn against "economic gimmicks" such as free electricity and easy credit to farmers. Instead, they argue the authorities should focus on the real problem which is "the industrial farming model based on weather-dependent cash crops." 

The proposed alternatives may conform to the big picture and provide better long-term solutions, but farmers die in the meantime.

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