Lok Sabha Debates
Need To Take Farmer-Oriented Policies To Prevent Farmers'' Suicides. on 14 March, 2016
Sixteenth Loksabha an> Need to take farmer-oriented policies to prevent farmers' suicides.
SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE (BARAMATI): In 2015, two-thirds of the 1.37 crore farmers in Maharashtra have been affected by the drought mainly in the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions. That is nearly 90 lakh farmers in Maharashtra alone. Year 2015 has seen the highest number of farmer suicides in the past five years in Maharashtra. The death toll on December 31, 2015 in Maharashtra stood at 3,228 for the year 2015. In January this year, as many as 89 farmers have ended their lives in Marathwada, indicating that the slew of measures the government undertook through the year failed to arrest the disturbing trend. The Government officials have failed to create confidence among the farmers regarding several government schemes intended to benefit them. Packages will no longer work for farmers and the Government seems to be missing this point completely. There is a need of farmer oriented policies like better irrigation technologies like drip irrigation, water harvesting, better varieties of seeds, better technology and awareness among farmers about good cropping practice.