Researchers Develop ‘Farm Distress Index’ to Identify Farmers in Need of Support

The Period of farm distress continues to be reported from various parts of the country. The distress can lead to suicides by farmers if left unattended.

In the absence of a sustainable mechanism to recognize the distress as it happens, farmers facing hardships are not being attended to at the right time.

At the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), an Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) organ, the scientists have developed an early warning system called the ‘Farmers Distress Index’.

Amarender Reddy, Head, Section of Design and Analysis of ICAR-CRIDA told, “The Index has been built on the 21-simple questions, divided into seven blocks of three questions each. By receiving answers to those questions, we can tell whether they are experiencing distress or not.” The Development of this index is part of the NABARD-funded project on ‘Farmers Distress and Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY)’.

How does it work?

Reddy, who is leading the project said the index can sense the approaching distress at least 3 to 4 months ahead of the natural occurrence allowing it to take preventive steps. He said, “If they are in distress the index can tell at what level they are in,”

Around seven keywords the institute will prepare the questions which will capture their financial, emotional, and other parameters. Also, a web application and the beta version of the Android app are ready.

He said, “We can ask these questions to a sample of farmers, after the identification of the vulnerable village or Mandal. The Data will be keyed in the app which will be further generated into a report form based on the responses.”

Critical Tool

Farmers’ distress is a recurring problem in dryland areas such as the drought-prone areas of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.

A New study has found that climate change is maximizing the incidents of drought, especially specific fast developing heat-driven ones that catch farmers by surprise.

There are a host of reasons causing distress among farmers. He said, “It can economic, financial, and emotional hardship triggered by crop failures, low prices for their yield, low productivity, pressure from money lenders for loan repayments, lack of access to credit, and natural disasters,”

Measuring the severity and dimension of the probability of distress caused and informing the local governments to take action on time the app will be helpful.