Risks, farmers' suicides and agrarian crisis in India: Is there a way out?

Srijit Mishra ()

Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers from Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India

Abstract: Poor returns to cultivation and absence of non-farm opportunities are indicative of the larger socio-economic malaise in rural India. This is accentuated by the multiple risks that the farmer faces - yield, price, input, technology and credit among others. The increasing incidence of farmers' suicides is symptomatic of a larger crisis, which is much more widespread. Risk mitigation strategies should go beyond credit. Long term strategies requires more stable income from agriculture, and more importantly, from non-farm sources. Private credit and input markets need to be regulated. A challenge for the technological and financial gurus is to provide innovative products that reduce costs while increasing returns. The institutional vacuum of organising farmers needs to be addressed through a federation of self-help groups (SHGs) or alternative structures.

Keywords: Credit burden; Crop loss/yield uncertainty; Market vulnerabilities (price shocks and increasing input costs); Returns to cultivation; Suicide Mortality Rate (SMR) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D81 O13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2007-09
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Risks, Farmers’ Suicides and Agrarian Crisis in India: Is There a Way Out? (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2007-014

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