The Ecologist has just run a story that I penned last month, about farmer suicides, drawing the line between those in the UK, those in India and, most recently, those in Australia. ... read more »

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Posted on 9 November, 2007 - 03:04

It's too early to say how many. But it's certain that the current drought in Australia will lead to a number farmers taking their own lives. In the Financial Times today is coverage of the Australian drought and its impact on farmers. From that report comes this augury:

“I think it will push people over the edge,” says Mr Donald. “The hedges have used up a lot of equity and a lot of people are faced with very difficult decisions.”

John Macdonald, professor of primary healthcare at the University of Western Sydney, says the drought has raised the risk of suicide among Australia’s farmers to a point where they should be classified alongside high-risk groups such as the country’s Aborigines and those who have been incarcerated. “There is no doubt that the severe economic stress that many farmers face because of the drought puts them at much greater risk of suicide,” he said. ... read more »

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Posted on 31 October, 2007 - 16:44

This splendid article has been sent in by a number of you. It's a fine joining-the-dots piece, linking together farmer suicides with the dirty politics of market-making - and it's a link that binds the fates of farmers in India with those in Iraq. Tremendously well written too.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/62273/
Why Iraqi Farmers Might Prefer Death to Paul Bremer's Order 81
By Nancy Scola
AlterNet
Wednesday 19 September 2007

Anyone hearing about central India's ongoing epidemic of farmer suicides, where growers are killing themselves at a terrifying clip, has to be horrified. But among the more disturbed must be the once-grand poobah of post-invasion Iraq, U.S. diplomat L. Paul Bremer. ... read more »

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Posted on 2 October, 2007 - 22:50

Here's an interesting report on suicides in China. I'm struck most by how the solution to plainly economic problems is deemed to be psychiatry. But I'm also concerned that in this story, one never really gets a sense of where anything is, as if 'rural China' were one, large and undifferentiated lump. It's a feature of reporting on China in general that very few place names make it into the bulk of the text...

Rural China's suicide problem
By Daniel Griffiths
BBC News, Beijing

China has one of the highest rates of female suicide in the world. And the problem is most acute in poor rural areas. ... read more »

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Posted on 4 June, 2007 - 18:22

A link that's going to get more and more coverage here at Stuffed and Starved is that between climate change and the world food system. The best resource for anyone interested in finding out how the way we eat is hostage to fossil fuels, is this article by Richard Manning over at Harpers. "Every calorie we eat is backed up by at least a calorie of oil, more like ten."
What doesn't come out so clearly from his essay, or his book is the vast human cost of our dependence on fossil fuels for food. ... read more »

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Posted on 3 February, 2007 - 00:44

I've just read a fine post from the excellent Women's eNews network, covering the aftermath of the (usually male) farmer suicides. Unfortunately, they're a little restrictive on copyright at Women's eNews so I can't post the entire article here, but under the principles of Fair Use and common sense, here's a snippet.

Kharif--the first crop after the monsoon season spanning from July to October--has mainly been harvested and the second crop is now coming along.
As many farm widows do what they can to keep up with these demands, they and their families are apprehensive about the debts their deceased relatives left behind. Many don't know the size of those debts or even who will come to collect or when. ... read more »

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Ch.2. Farmers | gender | India | suicides | Vidarbha

Posted on 16 January, 2007 - 18:23

The despair and suicide of indebted farmers are tragic and recurring themes. In India, their epicenter lies in Vidarbha, in Maharashtra, where farmers grow genetically modified cotton. The tragedy, for the families and communities left behind, has been caught by photographer Johann Rousselot, at Oeil Public. He shows the body of Praveen Vijay Bhakamwar, whose accumulated debts of Rs 40,000 - less than US$ 900 - pushed him to suicide. Bhakamwar leaves behind three daughters and a son. ... read more »

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Posted on 15 January, 2007 - 20:14

Lee Kyung Hae was a peasant leader from South Korea who took his life at the 2003 World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun, Mexico. In the hours before he died, he handed out a leaflet, challenging the WTO. Here, in a new translation by Christine Dann and Kim Hak Mook, is the text of that leaflet. You can also download a .pdf file.

___________

I was born on a farm in Korea. After graduating from agricultural high school and university I became a farmer, and with my own hands I developed a dairy farm on harsh, mountainous land. I also had a small area of rice paddy land on the lowlands, which my father transferred to me. With my fellow farmers, I built a farmers' association and I tried to contribute to my village, my community and my country, while carrying on my lovely occupation of farming. ... read more »

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Posted on 21 December, 2006 - 17:03

The folk from the Association for India's Development recently held a vigil outside the US Embassy in Washington DC, in support of farmers in India. Here's a press release from their event.

Candlelight vigil in Washington DC on Farmers Suicides in India.

Washington DC, Dec 10:

Volunteers from the Maryland Chapter of the Association for India's Development and other NRIs [non-resident Indians] gathered, along with farmers' rights activist Arupathy Kalyanam, in front of the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C. to bring attention to the plight of Indian farmers on World Human Rights day. ... read more »

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Posted on 12 December, 2006 - 19:16

The Times of India carries a story of what it calls “perhaps the first case of farmer suicide in Gujarat,", in which "a debt-ridden farmer in Shera village of Bharuch district died on Monday by consuming pesticide.”

People are taking action. Says The New Nation:

"What began as a sombre exercise to express anguish at the continuing demise of the farming community-triggered by the anti-farmer policies of government-by lighting a candle at the Jantar Mantar on Nov 16, has now spread throughout the country. Candlelight vigils are being organised across the country in solidarity with the fast-unto-death undertaken by the veteran freedom-fighter Mohan Dharia in Pune, and also to draw the attention of the people and policymakers towards the terrible agrarian crisis that afflicts the countryside, says a message received from New Delhi." ... read more »

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Posted on 30 November, 2006 - 02:12