Yavatmal recorded 220 farmer suicides in nine months, 39 of them in September

Yavatmal: The district recorded 220 farmer suicides between January 1 and October 5, Maharashtra Times reported. Of these, 34 were recorded in August and 39 in September, a rise over the past two months. Mounting debt, repeated crop failures and the poor state of this year's crops have left farmers in distress, the report said.

Rain stayed away in August and September, and summer-like heat during the day has scorched crops. With rainfall 31 per cent below the annual average, crop growth has been stunted. Soybean pods have not filled with grain, and cotton plants are shedding their squares and bolls, making it hard for farmers even to recover their costs.

Under the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Shetkari Karjmukti Yojana 2026, loans of about ₹769.94 crore owed by 87,695 farmers in the district have been waived through the district bank and nationalised banks. Last year the district's final kharif crop-yield estimate (paisewari) was declared at 43 per cent, yet insurance companies, applying their own criteria, paid no compensation to 1,86,290 farmers who had insured their crops, the report noted.

A central team has also visited the district to assess the drought. Farmers urgently need cash assistance, and there are demands that the government decide on it immediately.

Source: Maharashtra Times