Vidarbha pattern replicates in Nashik, 10 farmers dead in 3 months

Trying to pay off a Rs 12,992 loan he took in 2000 from the Songaon credit society, Gade never managed to get past the interest rate. By April 2006, he owed the society Rs 14,882. Tired, he committed suicide in April.

‘‘And there are hundreds more on the brink of committing suicide since they have been caught in the interest cycle,’’ says Songaon sarpanch Sudhakar Bikaji Gawle, adding that no farmer is able to cultivate his land without taking loan.

Another such farmer was young Somanth Gangurde. Three months back he became the first casualty of the plummeting onion prices in the region. Today his wife, blind mother and two sons stare at an uncertain future. ‘‘I know we have to live but we don’t know how,’’ says his wife Shaila, adding that she might take up the aanganwadi job she is being offered.

Fifty-five-year-old Pandurang Kadam’s family doesn’t keep accounts any more. They have no spare cash and are constantly borrowing money to meet their daily needs. ‘‘We have constant medical expenses,’’ says an exhausted Sunita, Kadam’s daughter-in-law.

Reeling under the spiralling cost of fertilisers, seeds, water and power, farmers from India’s onion belt were hoping to earn some profit at the mandi. But onion prices crashed, as did the prices of grapes.

‘‘Practically no crop has yielded money,’’ says Gade’s older brother Sampath Piraji, who is also repaying a Rs 10,000 loan he took for sugarcane five years back. ‘‘We have tried growing a variety of crops, but the market has failed us each time.’’

As seeds of desparation are being sown across the region, officials say they are working on setting up counselling centres for farmers and ensuring illegal moneylenders don’t thrive. ‘‘And there is no cause for alarm,’’ say officials, ignoring the fact that the Vidarbha suicides also started with a few. ‘‘Compensation is being promptly given.’’

But not for the Khindes. Sadashiv Khinde committed suicide on April 10. He was repaying a Rs 18,000 loan he took for his daughter’s wedding in 2001. The retired Air Force personnel had paid Rs 14,000 as interest in the last five years. Now his family pays it out of the Rs 2,200 pension the government pays them. The government probe into his death does not find the family eligible for compensation.

‘‘The pension comes after the loan money has been deducted,’’ says Usha, Khinde’s wife, as she watches the fate of her family being decided by relatives.

In all 10 homes, families are struggling to make ends meet. Wives who had no idea about the financial aspect of their agriculture are now negotiating with banks and moneylenders.

The gloom has spread across villages as farmers put weddings and other celebrations on hold. ‘‘I had to postpone my daughter’s wedding,’’ says Gawle.

LOAN TRAP

Of the 850 farmers listed with the Songaon Credit Society, 700 have availed of the loan. The society, which is comfortably housed in a recently constructed Rs 40 lakh building, has an annual turnover of over Rs seven crore. The farmers owe it over Rs 5 crore.

In 2005-’06, the Nashik District Central Cooperative Bank gave a total loan of Rs 57,365 lakh to farmers. Officials state that they are maintaining their high annual credit plan, adding that 75 per cent of their money is still due from farmers. Even as credit facilities for farmers are being increased, the pay back capacity is reducing.

anuradha.nagaraj@expressindia.com