Maharashtra

Agriculture is the mainstay of the state of Maharashtra. It is the main occupation of the people. Both food crops and cash crops are grown in the state. The main food crops of Maharashtra are mangoes, grapes, bananas, oranges, wheat, rice, jowar, bajra, and pulses. Cash crops include groundnut, cotton, sugarcane, turmeric, and tobacco. The total irrigated area which ahs been used for crop cultivation is 33, 500 square kilometers. Large areas of the state have been brought under fruit cultivation. The fruits which have added to the treasury of the state are the Nagpur oranges, oranges of Bathplug, the Alphonso Mangoes and the grapes of Nashik. The agricultural growth rate has increased to 1.97%. To make things more accessible for the farmers the interest rate for the loans has been decreased to 6%. A very important problem is the dependence on rainfall. To lessen the dependence irrigation facilities have been extended to an additional area of 1.4 lakh hectares. To provide relief to stressed farmers who have been affected by the drought conditions, Rs.5200 crore has been sanctioned by the central government. This has been done to six districts of the Vidharba region. To compensate the crop losses Rs367 crore has been granted to the poor farmers. Apart from that stringent actions have been taken on 2821 illegal money lenders. Research on agriculture and agricultural products needs to be conducted to tackle the diverse agro – climatic differences. Apart from that the transport and communication services, infrastructure development in the rural area has helped in developing the agricultural production of the state.

(http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/maharashtra/maharashtraagriculture.htm)

THE HINDU
Thursday, Jan 31, 2008
17,060 farm suicides in one year
P. Sainath
Uptrends in major States unchanged
Mumbai: Farm suicides in Maharashtra rose dramatically in 2006, more than in any other part of the country. The State saw 4,453 farmers’ suicides that year, over a quarter of the all-India total of 17,060, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in its report Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India, 2006. That is the worst figure recorded ‘in any year for any State’ since the NCRB first began logging farm suicides.
The previous worst — 4,147 in 2004 — was also in Maharashtra. It has seen ‘36,428 farmers’ suicides’ since 1995, ‘in official count.’ ‘2006 is the latest year for which data are available.’
The suicides in Maharashtra mark an increase of 527 over the 2005 figure. This was four and a half times bigger than that in Andhra Pradesh, the next worst-hit State, which saw a rise of 117 farm suicides over 2005.
It was also more than twice the increase of 198 in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh taken together.
Worse, it means farmers accounted for half ‘the increase’ in all suicides in Maharashtra in 2006.
Significantly, Maharashtra’s upward spike occurred in the year when the relief packages of both the Prime Minister and Chief Minister — worth Rs. 4,825 crore in all — were being implemented in the Vidharbha region, where suicides have been most intense.
The NCRB figures show an unrelenting uptrend in what can be termed the ‘SEZ’ or (Farmers) ‘Special Elimination Zone’ States. These States, which account for nearly two-thirds of all farm suicides in the country, include Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh (including Chhattisgarh).
As a group, the ‘SEZ’ States saw an increase of 6.2 per cent in such deaths.
Among them, Maharashtra (4,453), Andhra Pradesh (2,607) and Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (2,858) show a sharp upward spike.
Karnataka (1,720) reports a decline. So though the all-India numbers for 2006 reflect a very small decline of 61 over the 2005 figure of 17,131, the broad trends of the last decade continue. And the trend of rapidly rising farm suicides, particularly post-2001 in the ‘SEZ’ States, remains unchanged.
So the minuscule decline in the figure for the country as a whole marks no break from the dismal decade-long trend.
NCRB data record 1,66,304 farmers’ suicides in a decade since 1997.
Of these, 78,737 occurred between 1997 and 2001. The next five years — from 2002 to 2006 — proved worse, seeing 87,567 farmers take their own lives.
This means that on average, there has been one farmer’s suicide every 30 minutes since 2002.
(http://www.hinduonnet.com/2008/01/31/stories/2008013160930100.htm)

17.060 farm suicides in one year

Together for a cause

href="http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/maharashtra/maharashtraagriculture.htm">http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/maharashtra/maharashtraagriculture.htm)





THE HINDU

Thursday, Jan 31, 2008

17,060 farm suicides in one year
P. Sainath


Uptrends in major States unchanged


Mumbai: Farm suicides in Maharashtra rose dramatically in 2006, more than in any other part of the country. The State saw 4,453 farmers’ suicides that year, over a quarter of the all-India total of 17,060, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in its report Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India, 2006. That is the worst figure recorded ‘in any year for any State’ since the NCRB first began logging farm suicides.
The previous worst — 4,147 in 2004 — was also in Maharashtra. It has seen ‘36,428 farmers’ suicides’ since 1995, ‘in official count.’ ‘2006 is the latest year for which data are available.’
The suicides in Maharashtra mark an increase of 527 over the 2005 figure. This was four and a half times bigger than that in Andhra Pradesh, the next worst-hit State, which saw a rise of 117 farm suicides over 2005.
It was also more than twice the increase of 198 in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh taken together.
Worse, it means farmers accounted for half ‘the increase’ in all suicides in Maharashtra in 2006.
Significantly, Maharashtra’s upward spike occurred in the year when the relief packages of both the Prime Minister and Chief Minister — worth Rs. 4,825 crore in all — were being implemented in the Vidharbha region, where suicides have been most intense.
The NCRB figures show an unrelenting uptrend in what can be termed the ‘SEZ’ or (Farmers) ‘Special Elimination Zone’ States. These States, which account for nearly two-thirds of all farm suicides in the country, include Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh (including Chhattisgarh).
As a group, the ‘SEZ’ States saw an increase of 6.2 per cent in such deaths.
Among them, Maharashtra (4,453), Andhra Pradesh (2,607) and Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (2,858) show a sharp upward spike.
Karnataka (1,720) reports a decline. So though the all-India numbers for 2006 reflect a very small decline of 61 over the 2005 figure of 17,131, the broad trends of the last decade continue. And the trend of rapidly rising farm suicides, particularly post-2001 in the ‘SEZ’ States, remains unchanged.
So the minuscule decline in the figure for the country as a whole marks no break from the dismal decade-long trend.
NCRB data record 1,66,304 farmers’ suicides in a decade since 1997.
Of these, 78,737 occurred between 1997 and 2001. The next five years — from 2002 to 2006 — proved worse, seeing 87,567 farmers take their own lives.
This means that on average, there has been one farmer’s suicide every 30 minutes since 2002.


(http://www.hinduonnet.com/2008/01/31/stories/2008013160930100.htm)

Route -Nagpur to Agra

The route Map & Travel Plan is on the basis of 50 kms cycle travel per day.
NAGPUR (MS)
SABNER (MS)
PANDURNA (MP)
MULTAI (MP)
JOULKHEDA (MP)
BETUL (MP)
SHAHPUR (MP)
KIRATPUR (MP)
OBEDULLAGANJ (MP)
BHOPAL (MP)
KURAWAR (MP)
BIOARA (MP)
BEENAGANJ (MP)
RAGHOGARH (MP)
GUNA (MP)
BADARWAS (MP)
SHIVPURI (MP)
MOHONA (MP)
GWALIOR (MP)
MORAINA (MP)
DHOULPUR (RAJ)
AGRA (UP)

Cooperative set by a farmer

Village Jamari, MP
A farmer and owner of one acre of land suddenly finds treasure when he discovers water underneath his fields.He thought of managing this resource and its proper utilisation.He made a cooperative which sold water to other farmers at the rate of Rs.1200 per crop and usually there are two crops in an year.So far he has given water to eight farmers and earns Rs.20,000 per year from this alone...
This has brought hope for many others.
Dashmesh for example is now growing wheat in his five acre land for the first time in last five years.
But sadly in a similar attempt a farmer dug his seven acre land seven times in hope to get water but in vain..
How ever the idea of cooperative by farmer/local was an excellent experience of the team.

Stories from the Madhya Pradesh

In conversation with the farmers in Madhya Pradesh,Yatra Team found that there is a huge network of the agents who lure the farmers for loans for tractors by misleading them with faulty or half information.Later in case of the non-payment of money the tractors is take away leaving farmer to suffer the crisis that follow.

In a typical a farmer Kailash of village Khambra, district Betul,MP was approached by an agent Bhupendra Sahu in year 1998.He convinced Kailash to buy tractor by taking the loan. Kailash did not own any land but for the loan he puchased land from his uncle and applied for the loan.But Kailash could not even pay the first instalment and soon he accepted the fact thet he can never pay the money back.After four years he lost the land and also the tractor. Today he struggles hard to earn daily meal.The agent here gets around Rs.20,000 per client(Farmer).

There are over one lakh such cases in the region..The government pays no heed to it and hundreds of tractors whichwere taken back from such farmers ,are lying in Tehsil the land.It is a huge problem in the State as there are schemes to attract farmers like: free 20 L of diesel on the purchase some gift etc.

There are several other cases that tells the sad state of Framers. There are cases in which the farmer had asked for a loan of Rs.2.5 lakh but had already paid Rs. 6 Lakh as interest money.

News

At Salem..

Some coverages...