Farmer’s Suicides Increases by 19 percent in Andhra Pradesh: Report

According to the most recent National Crime Records Bureau Report, farmer suicides in Andhra Pradesh surged by more than 19% in 2021 compared to the previous year.

According to information provided by the NCRB, the state was third in the nation for farmer suicides for the third consecutive year. In Andhra Pradesh, 1,065 people who were employed in the agricultural industry (farmers, tenant farmers, and laborers) passed away in 2021 as opposed to 889 in 2020, a 19% rise.

According to the research, after Maharashtra (4,064 farmer suicides) and Karnataka (2,169), AP ranked third in terms of farmer suicides in 2021 with 1,065 suicides.

In Andhra Pradesh, suicides increased 14.5% in 2021 compared to 2020.

In comparison to 7043 suicides in 2020, there was 8,067 overall in 2021.

The most recent NCRB data does not identify the causes of suicide; it just records the profession of individuals who took their own life. 958 men and 107 women among the 1,065 farmer suicides in the state in 2021 were farmers.

The statistics also revealed that 359 farmers who cultivated their own property committed suicide, 122 farmed land they rented, and 584 were farm laborers.

The YSRCP Rythu Bharosa scheme was started by the AP government in October 2019. Each farmer receives Rs 13,500 per year through this scheme. The program benefits 1.58 lakh tenants and over 44.92 lakh landowning farmers. However, the plan fell short of reducing the state's agricultural desperation.

Representatives from the Human Rights Forum (HRF) and the Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV) visited several areas of the state and noted that the main causes of these suicides were mounting debts, a lack of market value for their agricultural products, and the failure of the government to distribute benefits from its schemes to the tenant farmers.

They suggested that the government put out a suitable plan to resolve the agriculture situation.