Rising Cost of Farming, Climate Change, and Debt Burden: The Fundamental Causes of Farmers’ Suicides
One of the main reasons pushing farmers toward suicide is that agriculture is no longer economically viable or capable of sustaining livelihoods. The reasons behind declining profitability include shrinking landholdings—from an average of 2.3 hectares in 1960–61 to 1.6 hectares in 2002–03—and rising expenses alongside income. Although farmers’ incomes have increased, their expenditures and debt burdens have grown even faster.