More farm labourers died by suicide after Covid than farmers

The trend of more farm labourer suicides than farmer suicides began only after 2020. Of the 10,677 farm suicides in 2020, 5,579 were of farmers, and 5,098 were of agricultural labourers.

Similarly, in 2019, the only year when farm suicides reported a dip, 5,957 farmers and 4,324 agricultural labourers ended their lives. The corresponding numbers in 2018 were 5,763 farmer suicides and 4,586 farm labourer suicides.
The NCRB report does not specify its definition of farmers and agricultural labourers. Operational holding is used to differentiate between marginal, small, medium and large labourers. Farmers with land holding up to one hectare (2.5 acres) are termed marginal farmers, while small farmers hold between 1-2 hectares.

India’s agricultural Census of 2015-16 showed that 68.5 per cent of the holdings were by marginal farmers while 17.6 per cent were by small-holders. The rest was divided between medium and large holders.

Farm leader and former MP Raju Shetti said marginal farmers have too little land to make agriculture mainstream, and they fear their small holdings being infringed upon, if left unattended.

“Agriculture labourers are drawn mostly from this category. They work on others’ land as well as cultivate their own land. It is this sector who have faced the most economic hardship post Covid,” he said.

The majority of them, Shetti said, were working as unskilled labourers in the urban sector. “Covid led to a large-scale reverse migration, and many of them decided to stay back,” he said.

Ajit Navale, leader of All India Kisan Sabha – the farm wing of CPI(M)- attributed the increase in suicide of agricultural labourers to reverse migration and increasing unemployment in the country.

Post Covid, he said the urban unemployed and the unskilled labourers have gone back to their villages. “A majority of them take loans from money lenders. The over all agrarian distress is reflecting in the number of suicides,” he said. Input costs have also increased several times, with output costs declining.

“Overall, agriculture has become unsustainable for farmers, and the ones suffering most are the marginal farmers, who also act as labourers on the field. The increase in suicide can be attributed to these factors,” he said.

Farm suicide constitutes around 7-8 per cent of the total suicides reported in the country. Maharashtra reports around 37-38 per cent of the entire farm suicides in the country, with better reporting in the state said to be one of the reasons for the high numbers. Vidharbha and Marathwada district report most of the suicides in the state.