![Page 1: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The political economy of farmers’ suicide in India
Jonathan Kennedy
Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge and Department of Political Science, UCL
![Page 2: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
SUICIDE IN INDIA
• In 2010 187,000 people died from suicide in India.
• Indian suicide rates are among the highest in the world–26·3 (per 100,000) for men and 17·5 for women.
• Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young adults in India.
![Page 3: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
![Page 4: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
![Page 5: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
FARMERS’ SUICIDES
![Page 6: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
![Page 7: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
![Page 8: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
![Page 9: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
No India-wide quantitative evidence
• One major study on suicide in India published in The Lancet (Patel et al. 2012). Uses a nationally representative mortality survey of 1·1 million households.
• They state: “our findings do not suggest that suicide is any more prevalent in agricultural workers (including farmers) than it is in any other profession”.
![Page 10: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
How do we explain this contradiction?
• Patel et al do not correctly operationalize the mechanism that many identified as linking farmers to increased suicide rates.
• They compare the primary occupations of those people who committed suicide.
• Who is a “farmer” is and what is a “farmer suicide”?
• Patel et al. reify social structure of rural India and assumes all suicides involving farmers are farmers’ suicides.
![Page 11: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Figure1:The%ofmarginalfarmersandsuiciderates(r=0·241,p=0·378)
![Page 12: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Figure1:The%ofmarginalfarmersandsuiciderates(r=0·241,p=0·378)
![Page 13: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
42
Figure1:The%ofmarginalfarmersandsuiciderates(r=0·241,p=0·378)
![Page 14: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Figure1:The%ofmarginalfarmersandsuiciderates(r=0·241,p=0·378)
![Page 15: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Figure1:The%ofmarginalfarmersandsuiciderates(r=0·241,p=0·378)
![Page 16: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Figure2:The%ofcrashcropsandsuiciderates(r=0·628,p=0·005)
![Page 17: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
![Page 18: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Figure3:The%ofindebtedfarmersandsuiciderates(r=0·729,p=0·018)
![Page 19: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Figure3:The%ofindebtedfarmersandsuiciderates(r=0·729,p=0·018)
![Page 20: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Conclusions
• Redistribution of land is a desirable policy prescription, but perhaps not a realistic one.
• State interventions to stabilize the price of cash crops and relieve indebted farmers may be effective at reducing suicide rates in India.
• Fallibility of large N statistical analysis in public health when they are not combined with sound operationalization of mechanisms as specified by qualitative studies.
![Page 21: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
Future research…
• More and better quantitative data
• Qualitative study using carefully selected comparative cases
• Possible role of GM crops – RCT?
![Page 22: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
!
Table 3: Linear regressions showing the political and economic determinants
of farmers’ suicide, 2001-05
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Marginal farmers % ·252 ·381* ·402* ·437***
(·233) (·123) (·163) (·095)
Cash crops %
·683§
·801** ·518*
(·355) (·240) (·209)
Indebted farmers %
·670*
·806** ·549*
(·214) (·231) (·187)
Model N 90 90 90 90 90 90
Model F 1.17 3.70 9.83* 13·97*** 6·53* 18·06***
Model adjusted R2 ·086 ·359 ·365 ·566 ·591 ·738
Notes:- * p<=·05 (5%), ** p<=·01 (1%), *** p<=·001 (0.1%), § p=·071 (7.1%).
Constants calculated but not reported.
![Page 23: The political economy of farmers' suicide in India](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051712/586cc3a91a28ab4a6b8bd347/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
Table 4: Linear regressions showing the effects of income, poverty, inequality on
farmers’ suicide, 2001-05
(7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12)
Income ·554 ·051
(·491) (·223)
Poverty
-·063 ·233
(·339) (·133)
Inequality
·322* ·092
(.115) (·073)
Marginal farmers % ·441***
·428***
·429***
(·099) (.099) (·093)
Cash crops %
·514*
·549*
·448§
(·208) (·205) (·215)
Indebted farmers %
·542*
·571*
·395*
(·189) (·184) (·169)
Model N 90 90 90 90 75 75
Model F 1.27 14·83*** ·03 16.39*** 7.88* 14·12***
Model adjusted R2 ·038 ·738 ·010 ·757 ·361 ·735
Notes:- * p<=·05 (5%), ** p<=·01 (1%), *** p<=·001 (0.1%), § p=·056 (5.6%).
Constants calculated but not reported. For inequality there is no data for Himachal
Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and the north eastern states.
!