In India, the rate of farmers' suicides is increasing rapidly. One of the recent studies suggested that 58% of farmers are facing depression; that is more than half. The problem of anxiety and depression emerges in farmers because of agriculture loans taken by them of Rs. 25000 or more.
Here are reasons for depression in farmers as below :
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Small Land Holdings: In India, people got small landholdings because of the big family that received a small portion during separation, reason being farmer can produce a limited crop in a small land.
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Lack of technologies: Majorly,farmers belong to the lower middle class and use manual processes instead of new technological methods. Because of this they give more time to farming and get less production.
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Seeds: High-quality seeds are the basic need of a farmer to do farming but the major part of farmers doesn't get the proper quality seeds.
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Rain: More than 80% of farmers in India are depending on rain. Many times, the crop gets damaged because of poor or excessive rain. Farmers don't get even the livelihood income because of bad weather conditions.
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Crop Price: In Rural India, farmers do not wait for long to get a good price of his crop as he doesn't have space to keep his crop at a safe place, nor he goes out to check direct buyer. Middlemen and agents give them low price than the market price.
Apart from the above, the working hours of are farmers too long. They often live under financial pressure as they take debt to purchase land, fertilizers, pesticides, and equipment.
To reduce the stress of farmers, the Government of India has taken many initiatives. Some of them are as follows:
1. Training to farmers:government initiated training that educates farmers to use proper fertilizers that increase harvests. They have given information on the latest technology that helps the farmers in growing their crops.
2. Financial Support:Prime Minister JAN-DHAN-YOJNA supports financial services like credit, insurance, Pension, saving, and deposit account in an affordable manner.
3. Direct Trading: Government has made amendments in the agriculture bill recently, where farmers can trade the business directly with the purchaser in any state.
4. Marketing:The government and many social websites are helping farmers by giving more updates and knowledge to the common man.
