143 in 152 days: Amravati is new farm suicide capital of Maharashtra

NAGPUR: The cotton growing Yavatmal district has come to be known as the state's farm suicide capital, but it is neighbouring Amravati district that is topping the death count these days.
Amravati, which borders Yavatmal, is also a cotton and soyabean belt, and the famed Nagpur orange is also cultivated in parts of the district. This year, till May, 143 farmer suicides were recorded in Amravati; that is one death by suicide every day.Yavatmal is second but not far behind, with 132 farmer suicides. June data is yet to be compiled.
Amravati has surpassed Yavatmal in suicides since 2021, when 370 farmers ended their lives, followed by 349 in 2022, and 323 in 2023. In Yavatmal, the toll stood at 290, 291 and 302 from 2021 to 2023, respectively. Activist Kishore Tiwari, who is former chairman of Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavalamban Mission, said the situation has been particularly harsh in Amravati. Farmers shifted to soyabean, and saw a marked dip in yield. Rates also dropped to Rs 4,000 a quintal last year. With lack of enough banking credit, many depend on small finance firms or moneylenders, and face harsh recovery.


Since 2001, state govt has been maintaining data of farmer suicides in six districts of Vidarbha; Amravati, Akola, Yavatmal, Washim, Buldhana and Wardha. More than 22,000 suicides have taken place in the districts in over two decades. Lately, the suicide count is also being maintained in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division (previously Aurangabad division), which covers the Marathwada region.
The toll in drought-prone Marathwada is much less. In all the eight districts of the division, 267 suicides have been recorded till April 2024. Figures for May and June were not available for Marathwada.
A district level committee probes if the suicide is driven due to farm crisis or other reasons. For the family to be eligible for Rs 1 lakh compensation, the deceased must have faced debts, recovery pressure, crop failure, and other crisis related to farming. In Amravati, 33 of the 143 suicides have got the farm crisis tag, with 10 cases rejected, and investigation continues in 100. In Yavatmal, 34 of the 132 suicides were due to farm crisis. With investigation still on in 66 cases, the district administration has rejected 32.
The number of suicides in which agrarian distress is being officially attributed as reason is also higher in Amravati as compared to Yavatmal From 2021 to 2023, 76% of the over 1,000 farmer suicides in Amravati were officially tagged as those driven by agrarian distress. In Yavatmal, the number was 50% of the 800-odd deaths in the same period.