Farmer Suicides Research Articles

Doubts surround link between Bt cotton failure and farmer suicide

Doubts surround link between Bt cotton failure and farmer suicide

Editorial: Farmer Suicides in India: The Role of Psychiatry and Anthropology

Farmers in India continue to commit suicide at alarming rates. Although offi cial estimates suggest that fi ve thousand people have taken their lives since 2001 in India’s western and southern regions, unoffi cial estimates suggest that the number may surpass ten thousand (O’Connor, 2007). Once known for its ‘King Cotton’, Vidarbha, in particular, witnessed suicide rates of around two per day in 2006 due to a combination of rising seed and fertilizer costs, the state government’s 32% drop in guaranteed purchase price after harvest, and cheaper American imports after a slash in import duties, all of which forced farmers to accumulate debts from private moneylenders with interest rates as high as 50–60% (Chu, 2006). Because few farmers leave suicide notes as suicide is an illegal act, many suicides often go unreported (Bhatt, 2004). However, little doubt remains when 79% of the farmers have ingested pesticides (Saunders, 2007). In 2005, two districts alone accounted for 600 suicides, mostly of small farmers holding less than ten acres (Kulkarni, 2006). By the end of 2006, 1280 farmers in Vidarbha killed themselves and only 30% of the eligible two million farmers received fi nancial support (The Asian Age, 2007). The Indian government’s response has been to announce the appointment of a research fellow through the Archaeological Survey of India to collect DNA samples from affected families in order to detect a genetic predisposition towards suicide (Arya, 2007). However, psychiatric research itself represents a unique culture with its own biases which must be scrutinized before its application (Bhui & Bhugra, 2001). A recent study on suicide in rural Tamil Nadu suggests that the vast majority of suicide completers succumbed to the exigencies of chronic stress factors rather than preexisting mental illnesses (Prasad et al., 2006). Farmers in India do not express the same stresses as farmers elsewhere, since they must confront additional challenges such as illiteracy, the bondedlabor system, providing for large families, government corruption and rapacious debts from local moneylenders (Venugepal & Jagadisha, 2000). A responsible methodology must ultimately embed the biological within its broader social, cultural, political and economic contexts. Scheper-Hughes and Lock (1987) have advocated examinations into the interconnections of the individual body, the social body and the body politic. Similarly Kleinman et al. (1997) suggest that the societal and the individual remain enmeshed so that a responsible account of pain and suffering requires a wide lens which deconstructs categories normally established as separate discourses such as the ‘medical’, the ‘legal’, the ‘moral’, the ‘religious’, the ‘political’ and the ‘economic’. Collective traumas such as famine and drought require interrogations into existing social, political and economic conditions (Zarowsky & Pedersen, 2000).

Corporate Social Responsibility and Farmer Suicides: A Case for Benign Paternalism?

Although arguments are a good way of exploring the limitations and complexities of a concept or a theory we may find ourselves faced with a real phenomenon that challenges the existing formulations of a concept or a theory so strongly and reveals its limitations to us so starkly that we are forced to break away from the current discussion and start anew. Such is the challenge posed by the phenomenon of farmer suicides on our existing theories of corporate social responsibility. Contemporary discussions in corporate ethics are replete with many theories of corporate social responsibility which in one way or the other rely on the concept of the social contract. For the most part these theories have gone unchallenged and no fundamental limitations have been revealed. However, the phenomenon of farmer suicides in central India poses a serious challenge to them. This article attempts to show how the phenomenon of farmer suicides in central India starkly exposes some of the fundamental limitations of the contractarian formulations of corporate social responsibility.

Suicides Among Farmers in Three Southeastern States, 1990-1998

Several studies have documented higher rates of suicide among farmers in comparison to other occupational groups, both in the U.S. and internationally. The purpose of this study is to describe the epidemiology of farmer suicides in three southeastern states (Kentucky, North Carolina, and South Carolina) during the nine-year period 1990-1998. Electronic death certificate data were obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics. Over the nine-year period, there were 590 deaths related to suicide (E-codes: 950-959) among farmers (occupation codes: 473, 474, 475, 477, and 479) in the states of Kentucky, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The results of this study confirm the increased rate of suicide mortality among white male farmers in comparison to the total white male population in these three southern states. The increased rate of suicide was significantly elevated among farmers age 25-34 years (RR: 2.07; 95% CI: 1.61-2.67) and among those age 75-84 (RR: 2.04; 95% CI: 1.70-2.45) and age 85 years and older (RR: 2.67; 95% CI: 2.02-3.54) in comparison to the total white male population.The use of a firearm was the primary mechanism of death for the majority (86%) of the cases. Farmer suicide mortality rates in the southeastern U.S. are higher than in Midwestern states. The elevated rate of white male farmer suicides in North Carolina over this time period (35% higher age-adjusted suicide rate in comparison to South Carolina) suggests a need for further investigation to assess the individual, social, and economic factors that may explain this elevated rate. Interventions for the prevention of suicide need to be directed to older male farmers who consistently have higher suicide rates than similar males in other occupations.

Farmers′ suicide in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state: A myth or reality?

Incidence of farmers ending their lives in Vidarbha region had hit epidemic proportions recently. We adopted the psychological autopsy approach to offer some insight into the reason why these individuals resorted to such a drastic step. Suicide in farmers is public health problem and we suggested some immediate and serious interventions to prevent suicide.

Reading cricket fiction in the times of hindu nationalism and farmer suicides: Fallacies of textual interpretation

This paper will critique postcolonial theory's attempt to read the cricket nationalism portrayed in the Oscar-nominated Bollywood film Lagaan as one that subverts the civilizing mission of British colonialism and also restores the agency of the subaltern classes. Instead, it will argue that this cricket nationalism replicates Indian bourgeois nationalism, which has no place for the subaltern in its imaginary. It will also argue that the postcolonial thesis of decolonization and indigenization of cricket supposedly achieved by Lagaan is marked by a culturalism that does not take into account structural factors such as capital, class and caste that dominate the institution of cricket in India. Finally, against postcolonial theory's tendency to read a text in isolation from the context, it will be contended that the cricket nationalism of the film can only be understood by locating it in relation to the present socio-historic conjuncture wherein forces of capital and nationalism are hegemonic.

Globalization and Trans-nationalism

On 10 August 2006, The National Advisory Council for South Asian Affairs(NACSAA) met at the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC, to answer severalquestions: Do markets know best? Does the market really know? Are the richgetting richer and the poor getting poorer? Does globalization meanWesternization and/or Americanization? Are traditional societies being dissipated?As there were many speakers, I will present only brief summaries.Shabir Ahmed stated that the West uses its foreign aid to get countriesto follow its own standards and perspectives, while many members of theelites have abandoned the traditional lifestyle. On the positive side, globalizationsolves poverty through the market. Syed Akhtar asked whether globalizationwas the same as McDonaldization or Nikeification, or just aboutcultural domination and sweatshops. He sees globalization as a win-win situation,provided that a nation has the necessary “enabling conditions”: ahighly educated workforce, the rule of law, and democratic institutions.V. Balachandran reminded the audience that globalization also causesproblems. In India, this takes the form of increasing farmer suicides, shantytowns, a lack of investment in the agricultural sector, a decrease in the quality of life, and questions of who owns the country’s natural resources. JamesClad defined globalization in negative terms: It is not necessarily an acrossthe-board integration of economies, a generator of an immediately improvedsecurity environment, a trend of deepening skill sets and the development ofan industrial and an R&D culture, something new (it is a recurrent phenomenonenabled by technological advancement), or westernization, for all culturesborrow what is useful to them.Abdul Mommen claimed that the South Asian diaspora can help root outterrorism. Currently, South Asia is facing higher levels of terrorism; inAmerica and western Europe, these levels are actually declining or increasingonly marginally. Bangladesh, despite being a liberal Muslim state, is seeingits level of terrorism, as well as the number of fatalities, grow even fasterthan has been the case in the Middle East since 9/11. Vijay Sazawal spokeon self-governance and trans-nationalism in Kashmir. He pointed out thatwhile Pakistan calls for more self-rule in Indian Kashmir, it provides almostnone to its own Kashmiri citizens. He concluded that “the line of control(LOC) is more or less a pretty clean division between various ethnic entitiesthat make up the old princely state and that the current boundary can sustainregional stability even when its political future is questioned.” ...

Farmer Suicides in India and Australia: Differences and Surprising Similarities

Australia and India are two physically large countries but the similarity seemingly ends there. While Australia is affluent and predominantly urban with a low overall population density and practices land and capital intensive agriculture India exhibits diametrically opposite characteristics. It is therefore quite strange to find that both India and Australia have comparable farmer suicide rates which are high by international standards. This common feature can be attributed to water scarcity which is natural in the case of Australia and mostly the outcome of political lobbying in the Indian case. Certain sociological developments arising out of technological change also play a key role in the Australian case.

Beyond Evidence: The Moral Case for International Mental Health

Beyond Evidence: The Moral Case for International Mental Health

Suicide in farmers in Scotland

Farmers and farm workers have higher than expected rates of suicide and undetermined deaths in UK studies, and some rural areas of Scotland have higher than average male suicide rates. Firearm access seems to be an influencing factor in England and Wales. Type of farming, and farming social networks may also be important. This article describes suicide and undetermined deaths in male farmers and farm workers in Scotland from 1981-1999 using anonymised, routine data. Deaths of men aged 15-74 years from suicide or undetermined cause were identified from anonymised Scottish death records. Farmers and farm workers were identified using occupation codes. Methods of suicide used by farmers were compared with those of the general male population of the same age. A multiple linear regression was used to examine the influence of farm type, and the proportion of farmers in the working population of an area. 307 male farmers or farm workers died by suicide or undetermined cause in the time period. The overall rate was 31.4/100,000 per year (95% CI 28.1-35.1). Deaths using firearms were over-represented (29% of farming deaths compared with 3.6% in the general male population). There was no significant association between the male suicide rate in an area, and the farming suicide rate. Areas with lower proportions of farmers tended to have higher rates of farming suicide and undetermined deaths. This one factor described 85% of the variance among areas. Deaths were substantially more likely to involve firearms than suicide and undetermined deaths in the general male population. Less use of other methods did not completely compensate for this, indicating that method availability is likely to contribute to farming suicide rates. Farmers in areas where farming is less common were more likely to die by suicide, and this described most of the differences among areas. Networks and social supports may be important protective factors for farmers.

Understanding suicide in Australian farmers

Male farmers in Australia have an elevated risk of suicide. The aims of this study were to investigate the rate of mental health problems amongst farmers compared with non-farmer rural residents and to investigate what additional factors might contribute to an increased risk of suicide amongst farmers. This study used a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. First, using self-report questionnaire data, we compared rates of mental health problems (a common correlate of suicide) and a number of personality measures between farmers (n=371) and non-farming rural residents (n=380). In addition, semi-structured interviews with farmers (n=32) were used to gain a richer understanding of how the context of farming and mental health interact. Five key findings emerged from the study. First, in the quantitative study, we found no support for the proposition that farmers experience higher rates of mental health problems than do non-farmer rural residents, but we identified potentially important personality differences between farmers and non-farmers, with levels of conscientiousness being significantly higher amongst farmers and levels of neuroticism being significantly lower. A strong association between maleness and farming was also found. In the qualitative study, participants indicated that farming is an environment in which individuals experienced a range of stressors but have limited capacity to acknowledge or express these. In addition, there appeared to be significant attitudinal barriers to seeking help for those who may have mental health problems, particularly male farmers. The elevated rate of suicide amongst farmers does not seem to be simply explained by an elevated rate of mental health problems. Individual personality, gender and community attitudes that limit a person's ability to acknowledge or express mental health problems and seek help for these may be significant risk factors for suicide in farmers.

Changing structure and organisation of agriculture and small farmers in India

Since most farm operators have been small and marginal farmers in India, growth in the sector was mainly determined by the role of the state-both in capital financing as well as the incentive structures created. Now, however, there is distress among small and marginal farmers, both in agriculturally advanced as well as backward regions, as manifested in farmer suicides. The viability of small holdings is an important issue and promoting agricultural commercialisation and diversification towards high-value crops is one of the means through which this can be achieved.

Growth and Distress in a South Indian Peasant Economy During the Era of Economic Liberalisation

This article analyses the impact of agricultural liberalisation on different farming classes in the region of Telangana in South India. The region has been witnessing significant growth in real agricultural output over the last 15 years. At the same time, as NSS (National Sample Survey) household survey data indicate, there have been significant welfare declines not only for marginal farmers and landless labour, but for other groups as well. There have also been more than a thousand farmer suicides between 1998 and 2002. I argue in this article that during the liberalisation period, that is, post 1990, agricultural growth and increased distress have become mutually intertwined. I use the terms, growth-inducing distress and distress-inducing growth to explain this apparent paradox.

‘We are Like the Living Dead’: Farmer Suicides in Maharashtra, Western India

Findings presented here about farmer suicides in Amravati and Yavatmal districts, Maharashtra, are evaluated in relation to Durkheimian theory, which attributes such acts to an historically specific combination of social and economic causes. Lower and middle caste peasant smallholders found themselves trapped between enhanced aspirations generated by land reform and other post-1947 measures, and the reality of neoliberalism (rising debt, declining income). Suicides among large and medium farmers belonging to the higher castes in Maharashtra were occasioned by failures in business, trade and politics. Such cases are consistent with the argument put forward by Durkheim, that suicide is an effect of individualization, a process of socio-economic ‘estrangement’ from agrarian communities experienced by rural producers in the context of rapid economic growth.

The mental health of farmers.

Farmers are subject to a number of unique occupational stressors, many of which have been aggravated in recent years by changes in farming practice and by economic factors. These are probably part of the explanation for the high rates of suicide in farmers and farm workers, which in the UK account for the largest number of suicides in any occupational group. Suicide is usually associated with mental illness, which, in farming communities, appears to be particularly stigmatized and poorly understood. This affects health-seeking behaviour, which is compounded by the geographical isolation and inaccessibility of many services in rural areas. Our current understanding of these issues suggests a number of potentially valuable interventions.

Suicide in Australian farming, 1988-1997.

To identify and describe suicide data for occupational classifications relating to farm managers and agricultural labourers for Australia for the period 1988 to 1997, and to relate resultant suicide rates to farmers' terms of trade. Descriptive and linear regression analysis of aggregated mortality data. In the period 1988 to 1997, 921 suicides were identified. The majority of these suicides were farm managers (67.4%). Farm manager suicides occurred predominantly in older age groups (55 + years). In comparison agricultural labourer suicides were younger, with the majority of suicides occurring in the 15-39 years age group. The most common methods for both groups were firearms (particularly hunting rifles and shot guns), hanging and motor vehicle exhaust gas. These methods accounted for approximately 81% of all male farm suicides. Firearms accounted for 51% of male farm suicide, in comparison to 23% for the wider Australian male population for the same period. Estimated age standardized rates per 100 000 for male farm managers for the 10-year period ranged from 24.8 to 51.4. For male agricultural labourers these rates ranged from 23.5 to 41.9. Analyses also revealed a negative correlation (r = -0.75, p < 0.01) between farm manager suicide rates and farmers' terms of trade. Male farm manager and agricultural labourer suicide rates are higher than male national rates and rates in the wider rural population, particularly in the later years of the period investigated. Firearms prefigure as the most common method of suicide, despite decreases in this method in the wider rural population. Establishing more accurate denominator data for the farming community is a priority, as is preventative action that accounts for unique aspects of farm life.

Suicides of farmers in Maharashtra: A socio-economic analysis

Suicides of farmers in Maharashtra: A socio-economic analysis

Pyrethroid resistance and mechanisms of resistance in field strains of Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).

Pyrethroid resistance was found in 54 field strains of Helicoverpa armigera collected between 1995 and 1999 from 23 districts in seven states of India. LD50 values of the field strains ranged from 0.06 to 72.2 microg/larva with slopes of 0.5-3.1. Resistance was highest in regions where pyrethroid use was frequent (four to eight applications per season). Resistance to deltamethrin was exceptionally high with resistance ratios of 13,570 and 27,160 in two strains collected during February 1998 in central India. Resistance to cypermethrin, fenvalerate and cyhalothrin also was high with resistance ratios of >1,000 in four strains collected from central and southern India. Resistance ratios were below 100 in >50% of the strains tested. Pyrethroid resistance was high in strains collected from the districts in Andhra Pradesh where a majority of the cotton farmer suicide cases in India were reported. Resistance to pyrethroids appeared to have increased over 1995-1998 in most of the areas surveyed. Studies carried out through estimation of detoxification enzyme activity and synergists indicated that enhanced cytochrome p450 and esterase activities were probably important mechanisms for pyrethroid resistance in field strains. Pyrethroid nerve insensitivity also was found to be a major mechanism in some parts of the country where the use of pyrethroids was high. The information presented illustrates the importance of proper insect management programs to avoid the consequences associated with improper insecticide use.

A study of suicide in farmers in England and Wales

The proportional mortality ratio for suicide is higher in farmers than in the general population. The reasons for this are likely to be complex, but may include easy availability of firearms, stress related to work, financial difficulties, and family problems. A psychological autopsy study of suicide in 84 farmers who died between 1991–1994 is presented and some preliminary findings are discussed.

Suicide in farmers

Suicide in farmers