Chhattisgarh, which observed 144 farm suicides last year may witness some more deaths this year if comprehensive and major steps are not initiated, said agriculture experts.
Farmers' financial and social condition deteriorated due to Covid-19 pandemic and enforced lockdown, and are reeling under tremendous pressure.
It is not wholly due to crop failure, rather the situation created by the second wave of Coronavirus pandemic and enforcement of lockdown. Many of the farmers failed to sell their ripened crop to the market and mandis due to lockdown.
I have cultivated watermelon in 8 acres, bitter gourd in 4 acres, tomato in 2 acres, ladies finger in 1.5 acres, all of my crops ruined, and destroyed in absence of market, complained Shailesh Singh, farmer Chalta, Surguja.
I am a vegetable cultivator. My crops were destroyed not due to natural calamity, but due to shutting down of markets, said Dilawar Yadav, a farmer from Mainpat.
Hari Bhoye, farmer from Ambikapur who cultivated vegetables in four acres of his land said I am in debt. Last year's lockdown, followed by this year shutting down of markets, has broken the back of the vegetable growing farmers.
Farmer leader Sudesh Tikam from Rajnandgaon said, the government's highly boasted farmer supporting Rajiv Gandhi Kishan Nyay Yojana failed to provide relief to the distressed farmers in the pandemic because the incentive of Rs 10,000 per acre will be provided to the farmers in four installments. And it will be only provided to paddy cultivating registered farmers.
Economist JL Bhardwaj said, you may be surprised that out of more than 37 lakh registered farmers, around twenty lakh farmers reap benefits from the government paddy procurement scheme.
Because a good number of farmers are sharecroppers or contract farming farmers. These farmers account for more than 30% of the farmers. These farmers are vulnerable because the majority of these cultivators rent the land for cultivation. As they are not original owners of the land they were not approved as farmers, banks will not provide them loans. Therefore, these farmers borrow money from private money lenders on higher interests and on failure of crops, under pressure they take extreme steps, said the economist.
