Farmers in Maharashtra threaten suicide because of drought, which has made debt repayment impossible. An estimated 3,600 farmers have taken their lives in the last five years.

Mumbai (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Dozens of Indian cotton farmers have written to India's president asking for permission to kill themselves since they cannot pay back their debts, activists and farmers groups said on Monday.

More than 3,600 cotton farmers have committed suicide in four western and southern states over the past five years, according to official statistics. Their families blame a lack of water for irrigation and limited cheap credit for driving them into the clutches of money lenders. But activists and farmers' groups say that as many as 18,000 farmers might have killed themselves.

"We prefer ending our lives to crop losses year after year," about 35 farmers from Dhamangaon in Maharashtra wrote in a letter to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

In addition to Maharashtra most of the suicides have been reported in the three southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka.

This month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced more than US$ 400 million in one-time grants, interest waivers and debt restructuring plus a one-year moratorium on loan repayments for eligible farmers.

However, "farmers are fed up with the administration's apathy. Promises are never kept," said a spokesman of Shetkari Sangathana, a farmers' lobby.

• india
• maharahstra
• farmers
• suicide
• debt
• drought