Cotton fields turn graveyards for Maharashtra's farmers
10 Nov '06
2 min read
Since the Multi-Fibre Agreement was closed in January last year, cotton has been the cream of a large globalization opportunity for the country. Exports to Chinese factories multiplied four times last year and India will be replacing US as the second biggest global cotton producer this year.
But for farms in the cotton growing belt of northeast Maharashtra, an economy which employes 1.7 million farmers and drives the country's trade is crumpling.
Maharashtra, which produces 20 percent of India's cotton crop, is facing such a horrific suicide situation that a Rs3,750 crore grant from central Government has failed to prevent the incessant hanging and pesticide swallowing cases.
As per sources of state Government, over 1,038 farmers ended their lives in the first ten months of this year and four more have committed suicide this month.
Cotton economy is dying slowly and currently farmers are being paid the same price for a quintal as they got in 1995. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar blamed continuous neglect of agriculture for the critical situation.
The farmer community saw suicide as the only escape from a vicious cycle of accumulating debts, high cultivation costs, denied state extension and unacceptable prices.
Cotton was known as 'white gold' in the huge lands of Vidarbha once, but now it has brought such circumstances that farmers borrow money to fulfill essential needs.
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