Factors associated with the farmer suicide crisis in India

Merriott, Dominic

doi:10.1016/j.jegh.2016.03.003

Cited by 110 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Geophysical Research Letters, 46, 9602-9611. https:// doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083525 Experiment (GRACE) satellites, water level measurements in groundwater monitoring wells, and global hydrological models. The problem is that these findings contradict on-the-ground field reports and farm surveys that report increasing well failures during the same time period (Merriott, 2015;Srinivasan et al, 2015).…”

Section: Citationmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…These conclusions are based on a variety of methods, including satellite observations such as those made by the NASA Gravity Recovery Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites, water level measurements in groundwater monitoring wells, and global hydrological models. The problem is that these findings contradict on‐the‐ground field reports and farm surveys that report increasing well failures during the same time period (Merriott, ; Srinivasan et al, ).…”

Section: The Paradox Of Rising Farmer Distress In Areas Of “Groundwatmentioning

confidence: 88%

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The Groundwater Recovery Paradox in South India

Hora

Srinivasan

Basu

2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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Reported groundwater recovery in South India has been attributed to both increasing rainfall and political interventions. Findings of increasing groundwater levels, however, are at odds with reports of well failure and decreases in the land area irrigated from shallow wells. We argue that recently reported results are skewed by the problem of survivor bias, with dry or defunct wells being systematically excluded from trend analyses due to missing data. We hypothesize that these dry wells carry critical information about groundwater stress that is missed when data are filtered. Indeed, we find strong correlations between missing well data and metrics related to climate stress and groundwater development, indicative of a systemic bias. Using two alternative metrics, which take into account information from dry and defunct wells, our results demonstrate increasing groundwater stress in South India. Our refined approach for identifying groundwater depletion hot spots is critical for policy interventions and resource allocation.

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Section: Citationmentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: The Paradox Of Rising Farmer Distress In Areas Of “Groundwatmentioning

confidence: 88%

The Groundwater Recovery Paradox in South India

Hora

Srinivasan

Basu

2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…Strategies designed to alleviate some of the associated distress in individuals with lower levels of SEP may reduce the number of suicide attempts. Evidence suggests that farmers in this region (India) are shouldering large amounts of debt sourced from non-institutional credit sources (ie, moneylenders) which charge high interest rates 42. Potentially providing alternative regulated credit sources may aid suicide prevention efforts in this region.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is socioeconomic position associated with risk of attempted suicide in rural Sri Lanka? A cross-sectional study of 165 000 individuals

et al. 2017

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BackgroundLower socioeconomic position (SEP) is associated with an increased risk of suicidal behaviour in high-income countries, but this association is unclear in low-income and middle-income countries.MethodsWe investigated the association of SEP with attempted suicide in a cross-sectional survey of 165 233 Sri Lankans. SEP data were collected at the household (assets, social standing (highest occupation of a household member), foreign employment and young (≤40 years) female-headed households) and individual level (education and occupation). Respondent-reported data on suicide attempts in the past year were recorded. Random-effects logistic regression models, accounting for clustering, were used to investigate the association of SEP with attempted suicide.ResultsHouseholds reported 398 attempted suicides in the preceding year (239 per 100 000). Fewer assets (OR 3.2, 95% CI 2.4 to 4.4) and having a daily wage labourer (ie, insecure/low-income job; OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.6 to 3.2) as the highest occupation increased the risk of an attempted suicide within households. At an individual level, daily wage labourers were at an increased risk of attempted suicide compared with farmers. The strongest associations were with low levels of education (OR 4.6, 95% CI 2.5 to 8.4), with a stronger association in men than women.ConclusionsWe found that indicators of lower SEP are associated with increased risk of attempted suicide in rural Sri Lanka. Longitudinal studies with objective measures of suicide attempts are needed to confirm this association.Trial registration numberNCT01146496; Pre-results.

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“…The agricultural output losses have put cotton farmers under huge debt trap due to the increasing dependence on non-institutional credit sources (Behere and Behere 2008;Chhikara and Kodan 2013;Manoranjitham et al 2010;Merriott 2016;Dandekar and Bhattacharya 2017). The average percentage of indebtedness among the rural communities is quite high in the cotton producing southern and peninsular states with Andhra Pradesh topping the list (Rajeev et al 2011).…”

Section: Effects Of Cotton and Wheat Production On Farmer Suicidesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Drought and Flood on Farmer Suicides in Indian States: An Empirical Analysis

Parida

Dash

Bhardwaj³

et al. 2018

EconDisCliCha

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The study examines the effects of drought and flood on farmer suicides using statelevel panel data from 17 Indian states for the period 1995-2011. The empirical estimates based on unconditional fixed effect Negative Binomial model show that while drought significantly increases farmer suicides, flood has no direct impact on the same. The results also show that incidence of farmer suicides is higher in cotton producing states of India because these states experience frequent drought conditions. Furthermore, our findings reveal that states with high levels of rural poverty experience a higher number of farmer suicides as a result of frequent occurrence of droughts and moderate floods. To obtain robust results, fixed effect Poisson model has been used in the study. Overall, the findings are consistent with unconditional fixed effect Negative Binomial model. Hence, in light of the results obtained by this study, it is important for the government to devise suitable policies such as loan waiver for poor farmers, compulsory crop insurance scheme, improving farm income through revamping of agricultural marketing policies, creating public awareness among farmers and providing micro-irrigation Department of Economics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA facilities as well as introducing alternative cropping pattern in the drought prone areas in order to reduce the occurrence of farmer suicides.

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Factors associated with the farmer suicide crisis in India

Abstract: Indebtedness and numerous factors relating to this are clearly identified as the most important risk factors. Further large-scale assessments are required to further understand the situation.

Cited by 110 publications

References 23 publications

The Groundwater Recovery Paradox in South India

The Groundwater Recovery Paradox in South India

Is socioeconomic position associated with risk of attempted suicide in rural Sri Lanka? A cross-sectional study of 165 000 individuals

Effects of Drought and Flood on Farmer Suicides in Indian States: An Empirical Analysis

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