India’s Dying Field (West Vidarbha) Record 2009 Farmer Suicides 2025
Date - January 3, 2026
Reasons for the
record number of farmer suicides in 2025:
The farmer suicide-affected areas in West Vidarbha include
Yavatmal, Amravati, Akola, Washim, and Buldhana districts and administratively,
the Wardha district of East Vidarbha ,they are mostly dryad farmers depends
upon the nature global climate.In West Vidarbha, cotton is cultivated in 45
percent of the area, soybeans in 40 percent, and various pulses and sorghum in
the remaining area. This year, from June 3rd to November 12th, continuous rains
wreaked havoc. The government provided compensation twice, but this did not
alleviate the agricultural crisis. The main reasons for this are only 50
percent disbursement of crop loans through banks, exploitation by moneylenders
and microfinance self-help groups, the doubling of cultivation costs leading to
an uncontrolled debt burden, complete soybean crop failure, only 40 percent of
the cotton crop surviving where as the government's assistance was meager,
further exacerbating the agricultural crisis.
In 2025, Yavatmal district recorded a record 446 suicides,
followed by Amravati with 396, Akola with 388, Buldhana with 343, Wardha with
224, and Washim with 212 farmer suicides.
Many of these suicides involve young farmers and tenant farmers who do
not have land ownership documents (7/12 extract), and therefore, these suicides
are not officially recorded by the government. The number of tenant farmers,
who cultivate land on lease, is as high as 50 percent in every village. They do
not receive government crop loans or compensation for crop losses moreover,
they are obligated to pay the land rent even if the crop fails. This has led to a significant increase in
suicides among farmers without land ownership documents this year, as they are
heavily indebted to private moneylenders, microfinance companies, and
cooperative credit societies run by political leaders in villages. The government, the administrative machinery,
and all political parties are unwilling to address this serious issue. Kishore Tiwari has expressed concern that if
the government does not implement measures such as improving credit
availability, improving seed quality, changing cropping patterns, reducing
cultivation costs by 50 percent, and declaring a state bonus on minimum support
prices, the agricultural crisis and farmer suicides will increase dramatically
in 2026.
