Three years of poor rainfall have hit Latur in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra. In the last four months 370 farmers have committed suicide and the total number now stands at 1,450 in the last 16 months. The worst hit are
those who invested in sugarcane and are now witness to complete destruction of their crops. Sugarcane consumes more water than other crops and with the region receiving half the annual rainfall in the last three years, many farmers are now staring at near life-and-death situations. Water shortages have been blamed on sugarcane and this might be partly true. Officials, on the other hand, are quick to point out that sugar factories
existed in the region for over 20 years and during good
rainfall years farmers benefited from growing sugarcane. This
hypothesis might not be off the mark, but the number of deaths
is alarming and the State government should have put an early
warning system in place to advise farmers on crop choices.
That apart, State governments in conjunction with the Centre
must put safety nets in place to help farmers tide over difficult
situations as the one being experienced in Latur. Quick relief
is the need of the day so that farmers, who have their back to
the wall, are prevented from taking the ultimate step.
