Farmer's income and agrarian distress: The case of India

Abstract

The paper analyses the effects of five distinct factors, which are responsible for high incidents of suicides among farmers in India. The study analyses the effect of ratio of net irrigated area to net sown area, average yield per hectare and expenditure by the households, and credit advanced to the farmers and proportion of food grain crops and non‐food grain crops on farmer's suicides. The study uses a panel data over 17 years (from 2001–2002 till 2017–2018) for all 28 states. The study finds that an increase in ratio of net irrigated area to net sown area, average yield and credit advanced to the farmers reduces the number of farmer suicides, whereas farmer's household expenditure and proportion of food to non‐food crops have no significant effect on suicides. Furthermore, the paper suggests that there are increased incidences of suicides by the farmers every year and the government need to amend its existing agricultural policies and work for the economic and social well‐being of the farmers, thus preventing suicides at a larger scale. The study also draws a comparison with Chinese policy at local level which may be implicated in India.