• During the ten-year period spanning 1997 to 2006 as many as 1,66,304 farmers committed suicide in India*
• Farm suicides have increased at annual compound growth rate of around 2.5 per cent per annum over the period 1997-2006*
• Farmers, who committed suicides, were growing cash crops in dry regions such as: cotton (particularly in Maharashtra), sunflower, groundnut, and sugarcane (especially in Karnataka)**
• Farm suicides took place in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh including Chattisgarh*
• Farmers’ movement headed by Shetkari Shanhtana was quite strong during the 1980s in Maharastra which declined during the 1990s**
• Rising cost of production made the farmers to borrow at exorbitant rates from informal sources**
• Poor health conditions, family disputes over property, domestic problems, and heavy social burden of marrying daughters coupled with alcoholism have pushed farmers towards committing suicides**
• Moneylenders have emerged as the most significant source of credit for farmers, with 29 per cent accessing this source***.

* Nagaraj, K (2008): Farmers’ Suicides in India, Magnitudes, Trends and Spatial Patterns, Macroscan
** Hebber, Dr. Ritambhara (2007): ‘Human Security and the Case of Farmers’ Suicides in India: An Exploration’, Centre for Development Studies, School of Social Sciences, TISS, Paper presented in a panel on Rethinking Development in a Conference on ‘Mainstreaming Human Security- an Asian Perspective’ (October 3-4, 2007) organised by Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
*** Chandrashekhar, CP and Ghosh, Jayati (2005): The Burden of Farmers’ Debt, Macroscan