Gujarat: 91 farmers ended their lives in last 5 years, says government

The Gujarat Government on Friday informed that state Legislative Assembly that as many as 91 farmers have ended their lives for various reasons across the state in the last five years. Responding to a written query by Congress MLA Tejashreeben Patel, state Agriculture Minister Babu Bokhiria said 91 farmers have committed suicide across Gujarat in the last five years (till October 2016).

The suicides were reported across 14 different districts of Gujarat. Jamnagar district witnessed the maximum number of such deaths with 48 farmers ending their lives, followed by Junagadh (13), Amreli (8), Rajkot (6), Bhavnagar (4), Mehsana (3), Surendranagar (2) and one each at Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Gir-Somnath, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Porbandar, Vadodara and Surat, the reply said. The year-wise break up revealed that maximum number of suicides (36) took place in the year 2012, followed by 33 in 2013, eight each in 2014 and 2015 and six in 2016.

Responding to a sub-question related to the reasons behind these suicides, Bokhiria said three farmers ended their lives due to crop failure, four others due to farming related debt, five due to non-farming debt and remaining 79 ended their lives for several other reasons.

Bokhiria added that the state government has taken several steps to stop farmers’ suicide by launching various schemes, such as Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna and scheme to compensate for the loss of crop due to natural calamities.