Recent news reports revealed that 1,023 farmer suicides were reported in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra in 2022, up from 887 cases the year before.
Back in 2001, at least one farmer’s suicide was witnessed in the region, which includes the districts of Jalna, Aurangabad, Parbhani, Hingoli, Nanded, Latur, Osmanabad, and Beed.
According to statistics from the divisional commissionerate, 10,431 crop producers have already killed themselves in the eight districts of the region yet.
The year 2006 saw a maximum of 379 farmer suicides reported between 2001 and 2010. The data shows that 2015 had the highest recorded number of farmer suicides (1,133) for the period of 2011 to 2020.
Reports suggest that 7,605 of the 10,431 farmers who have committed suicide since 2001 got aid in accordance with government standards.
The region has seen surplus rain in some years and drought-like circumstances in others during the past few years, which has made it more difficult for farmers to raise crops.
Apart from the climatic challenges, the irrigation network in the area is also not being utilized to its full potential.
For the not known, for agricultural purposes, 87 per cent of Marathwada depends on rain. The area receives just 779 mm of rain on average per year. Just over half of this amount of rainfall occurred in 2014.
