Determinants of Farmers’ Suicide in South-Western Punjab: A Sociological Analysis

Published by: Admin

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Authors: Priyanka Arora, Shalini Sharma and Amit Guleria

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Abstract

Agricultural crisis has become a major cause of farmer suicides, a horrifying reality that most people witness helplessly, with no end in sight.According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report 11,290 farmers committed suicide in 2022 across the country. The tremendous pressure of agriculture becoming highly mechanized, and rising costs of variable inputs, weakening of the support system have made Punjab agriculture in general and small farming in particular unremunerative. The present study was undertaken with specific objective of understanding the determinants of farmers’ suicide in south-western Punjab. This study explores the factor behind farmer’s suicide, based on a primary survey in Bathinda, Mansa, and Sangrur. Usingsnowball sampling, data were collected from 240 households across 77 villages through structured interviews. The study highlights a highest number of farmer suicide recorded in year 2016 (17.08%) and no significant decline through February 2024. More than half (62.08%) of the suicides were due to indebtedness. Most victims were aged 26–40 indicating severe distress among economically active farmers, while 28.33 per cent were illiterate pointing to a strong link between low education and vulnerability. A substantial proportion of farmers continued to depend on non-institutional sources of credit, particularly Artiyas, despite the presence of institutional alternatives such as cooperative banks and commercial banks. The average total debt burden among suicide victims was alarmingly high, amounting to Rs. 831,927, with nearly equal shares from institutional (55.09%) and noninstitutional (44.91%) lenders. Consumed insecticide was the most prevalent (58.33%) mode of suicide and 43.75 per cent of suicides occurred at home. 34.58 per cent faced humiliation from lenders as a trigger factor. These findings underscore the urgent need for incorporated policy measures targeting financial relief, mental health support and systemic agricultural reforms.

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