Door-to-door and village-to-village surveys carried out by researchers of the Department of Economics and Sociology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana detected a total of 9,291 suicides that were committed by farmers in six districts of Punjab during the period from 2000 to 2018. Situated in the Malwa region of Punjab, which is known for cotton farming and the prevalence of cancer among its population, Sangrur (2,506) witnessed the highest number of...
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Donor-funded evaluation shows “AGRA did not meet its headline goal” to reduce hunger in Africa, says a press statement by IATP
-Press release by Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy (IATP)* dated March 4, 2022 A new evaluation has exposed the serious failures of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) — in its attempt to address hunger and farmer poverty. Funded by Gates, USAID, and western governments, for 15 years AGRA has promoted high-input agriculture, synthetic fertilizers, commercial seeds and subsidies to "catalyze a farming revolution in Africa." This evaluation...
More »A cutback in PMFBY funding may further affect the timely release of compensation for Crop failures
On February 18, 2016, India’s Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. After its launch, the PMFBY was implemented by 21 states during kharif 2016, whereas in rabi 2016-17, 23 states and 2 UTs implemented the same. The Central Government launched the PMFBY in the kharif season of 2016 with the intention to help farmers cope with crop losses because of unseasonal and extreme weather....
More »Sri Lanka’s organic farming crisis: Learning from failures -Gurudas Nulkar
-Down to Earth Sri Lanka has found itself in an economic crisis in pursuit of producing 100% organic food ‘Lankan food crisis shows perils of organic farming’. This was the headline of a column by Indian economist Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar column published in a national daily recently. Aiyar’s article analysed the Sri Lankan food crisis, which has been triggered by the President’s recent decision to shift from chemical to organic farming. While the...
More »State of India’s environment: Why farmers kill themselves
-Down to Earth The back of the Indian farmour is against the wall amid rising costs of inputs, climate change-induced risks and faulty market mechanisms More than 28 farmers and farm labourers die by suicide in India every day, according to the 2021 State of India’s Environment (SoE) report — an annual brought out by Down To Earth in association with Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). The SoE report highlighted...
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