Shocking! 28 farmers are committing suicide every day; Highest number in Maharashtra, NCRB report out

New Delhi : The suicide crisis among farmers and farm laborers in India remains severe in 2024, with a total of 10,546 deaths related to the agriculture sector in 2024, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). suicide made Although this number is slightly lower than the 10,786 cases in 2023, on average around 28 farmers commit suicide every day in the country. This means that even today in India one farmer or farm laborer ends his life every hour.

According to the report, 6.2 percent of the total 170,746 suicides reported in the country were in the agricultural sector. The share of agricultural laborers among suicides is steadily increasing. Out of 10546 people, 5913 were agricultural labourers, which was 56% of the total number. The share of agricultural labor was 47.75% in 2020, but has been steadily increasing since then. Experts have long pointed out that rural households are increasingly dependent on labor rather than agricultural income, further increasing economic insecurity.

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In 2022, the number of suicides in the agricultural sector reached 11,290, the highest number in recent years. It has steadily declined since then, but current statistics do not indicate any significant change in ground conditions. Maharashtra recorded the highest number of agricultural suicides at 3824, which is 36.26 percent of the total agricultural suicides in the country. After that, 2,971 cases were reported in Karnataka.

835 suicides were reported in Madhya Pradesh, 780 in Andhra Pradesh, 503 in Tamil Nadu and 486 in Chhattisgarh. Major agrarian states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar recorded significantly lower number of farmer suicides as compared to Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.

Peak growth in 2024

According to the report, Karnataka recorded the highest increase in suicides at 22.61 per cent in 2024 compared to 2023, followed by Rajasthan (14 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (7.46 per cent).

The number is also increasing in Andhra Pradesh

In contrast, Andhra Pradesh recorded a 15.67 percent decline in farmer suicides. Puducherry saw a more than three-fold increase. From 2019 to 2022, not a single farmer suicide was reported in Puducherry. However, 10 cases were reported in 2023 and the number increased to 33 in 2024.