The dry spell did come to an end, but it was too late for cotton farmers like Kodape Koudu of Mediguda village in Jainad mandal and 11 others who committed suicide between June 1 and July 12, apparently after all sources of funding dried up for them. Of the dozen poor farmers, six lost their seed to the dry weather conditions on two successive occasions and more importantly, did not see any hope of salvaging at least something in the remaining season.
Thousands of small and marginal cotton and soyabean farmers who depend entirely upon money borrowed from institutions and private lenders to cultivate felt the pressure since the beginning of kharif season as the much expected crop loan waiver has not materialised yet. The dry spell in the season dealt a second and the hardest blow as the borrowings from private money lenders got wasted due to failed germination of seeds.
“He came back from the field looking extremely distressed,” Kalibai, the second wife of Koudu, recalled the demeanour of her late husband on the fateful day, July 12, when he committed suicide. She wanted to drive home the point that the farmer had lost heart after losing the seed for the second time.
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“Had the government ensured timely issue of fresh crop loans, the poor farmers would not have been as distressed. Farmers in this area would also have been better placed if the Satnala medium irrigation project had water stored in its reservoir,” opined former sarpanch of Mediguda, Tudam Ramulu, raising a question, among other things, on the near wasted capacity of the project.
A majority of cotton and soya farmers in Adilabad were already reeling under the impact of last year’s crop damage owing to excessive rainfall. As many as 66 distressed farmers had committed suicide last year between August 3 and December 12 and an equal number had ended their lives between January 1 and May 31 this year, according to independent estimates.
The delay in announcing crop loan waiver could worsen the situation for hundreds of farmers who have exhausted all their resources. Their helplessness can be gauged from the fact that they are unable to go in for third round of sowing despite the current rainfall. The government’s record in reaching out to poor farmers at their time of ordeal is also poor as it failed to issue compensation to farmers who committed suicide this year. Add to the list the names of 63 farmers who committed suicide in previous years, in whose case the mandatory report of the three-man committee continues to be awaited.
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According to the government, there were 440 farmer suicides so far in the district with 123 taking place before the relevant GO on issue of compensation was released in July 2004 and 317 after the GO was issued. It involved a compensation of Rs. 6.27 crore.
With the prevailing dry weather conditions and non-germination of seeds, at least four farmers, including a woman
Farmer, committed suicide in various parts of Karimnagar district during the last fortnight.
In Chinabonala village of Sircilla mandal, P Devaiah (60) committed suicide by consuming pesticide following the failure of his cotton
crop. He had sown cotton in four acres of land. But, the seeds could not germinate. After a brief spell of rains, he had again sown
cotton seeds by taking additional six acres of land on lease. Following the non-germination of seeds and failure of crops and unable
to clear the debts, he committed suicide.
In Marripalligudem village of Kamalapur mandal, Dasari Ravinder (40) committed suicide by consuming pesticide. He had cultivated cotton in six acres of land and incurred Rs. 2 lakh debts.
In Damera village of Elkathurthi mandal, a woman farmer Komadi Laxmi (35) cultivated cotton in one acre land and incurred losses and committed suicide by consuming pesticide. In Dumala village of Yellareddypet mandal, a farmer N Ramreddy (60) committed suicide by hanging to a tree in his two-acre land following the failure of crops.
No suicides were reported in Medak district due to the dry spell, officially. According to officials, if there is no rainfall continuously for 21 days with less than 2.5 mm rain then it will be considered as dry spell. Three suicides of farmers were reported in the past one month in Medak district and officials are attributing it to the debts already incurred by the farmers .
K. Bhaskar Reddy of Timmakkapet village in Daultabad mandal committed suicide by hanging on June 19. In addition to the small piece of land he was having, Bhaskar Reddy took another 12 acres of land on lease. The borewells he drilled failed. With debts mounting, he had committed suicide.
K. Ravi (30) of Kodakandla village in Gajwel mandal committed suicide by hanging at his house on July 4. He was already in debts and had to incur some more for cultivation of new crops. Ch. Ramalinga Reddy (70), a farmer from Mangol village in Kondapaka mandal committed suicide on July 14 by consuming poison. This was also linked to old debts.
“We cannot consider them as dry spell related deaths as it will not be mentioned in ‘panchanama’ by the officials. In addition, there needs to be a perfect mechanism to identify dry spell related deaths,” said an officer in the Agriculture Department.
[With inputs from K.M. Dayashankar (Karimnagar) and R. Avadhani (Sangareddy)]