Failing Land, Broken Lives

Thousands of precious human lives have been lost. Innumerable poverty-stricken families have been broken in body and mind. This is the hard reality of the suicide committed by farmers in India - a catastrophe that has befallen the agricultural system in India. In recent years, a large number of marginal farmers in India have put a premature end to their lives in despair and the numbers are staggering. Since 1995, more than 3 lakh farmers in India have ended their lives and their families and communities have been left shattered. The state of Maharashtra takes the largest share of those numbers and, therefore, it is known as the epicenter of farm related suicides in India.

Mass suicides relating to a single profession raises serious questions concerning the system around which the farming profession is built. No doubt, the agricultural system and the economy supporting it are not in favour of the small scale farmers. The circumstances under which farmer suicides take place vary significantly from case to case. Yet the common factors remain the same: unmanageable debt, government apathy, lack of social support, crop failure, which altogether makes up the broad term ‘agrarian distresses’.

The problem of suicides by farmers is not just an Indian problem. It is a global concern. Similar incidents of suicides have been reported even in developed countries and developing countries alike. Agriculture is hence termed as a high risk and high stress profession. However, the situation in India is different. Indian agriculture is prone to the vagaries of the Monsoon as large portions of Indian agricultural canvas are yet to be covered by artificial irrigation. Infrastructural benefits have not yet completely reached the Indian farmer. In the absence of formal channels of credit from banks and financial institutions, the marginal farmer relies heavily on costly loan from moneylenders. Thus the small farmer is even cheated and deprived of the occasional respite of loan waivers which trickles down through the banking system.

The spectre of mass suicides by farmers continues to haunt the governments at the Centre and the States. Unable (or unwilling) to tackle the menace structurally, governments have resorted to short term solutions such as announcing loan waivers. Some State Governments have even suppressed data on farmers’ suicide. The increasing death toll becomes a weapon for political mudslinging. However, lasting solutions have not yet germinated. Farmers’ suicide continues to remain a stain in the much vaunted modern Indian economic growth story.


The fate of the surviving family members of farmers ending their lives is even more tragic. There seems to be no escape or end to their distress. They not only carry the pain of losing a family member, who is also a bread winner, but they are also pursued by money lenders for the repayment of a loan taken at exorbitant interest rates! Not all the survivors of farmers committing suicides qualify for financial relief by the Government. Farmer suicides have pushed many households into destitution. Thus, the vicious circle is constantly pushed wider. A fitting response to the problem of farmer suicides needs to include multi-pronged strategies. This response needs to begin with a humanitarian concern for the poor farmer.

The marginal farmer needs to be empowered by providing multiple options for earning income as well as providing psychological aid. On our part, we could express solidarity with the farmers by supporting Farmers’ Movements, spreading awareness on problems of farmers, reducing waste, and promoting and practicing ecological sensitivity. The farmers supply our basic human need of nourishment. In return for this service they render to humanity, they deserve a fair deal when it comes to the matter of their own survival.

Sch. Praveen Kiran Martis SJ
DNC Times, Sep 2019, pg 17-18.

Jesus the Farmer

The Israelites, after the Exodus, came to the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. But much of it was dry and infertile other than the land which spread near the “fertile crescent”. The people started to till the land for crops and eventually, the Hebrews became farmers. The story of the first human beings on earth hints at this: Adam was forced to sweat from the brow in cultivating the land among thorns and thistles (Gn 3: 18-19). Similarly, in the book of Genesis, we read the story of Cain and Abel, which again gives us a clue that the Hebrews had become farmers. We could see throughout the Old Testament instances of people using farm products.

The Gezer Calendar, which was found in Israel, dates from the time of Solomon, in the mid-10th Century BC, described the agricultural cycle, month by month, giving the tasks to be performed at certain times of the year.
· August and September are times of harvest
· October and November are set aside for planting
· February is devoted to the cultivation of flax and,
· March, to the barley harvest, etc.

Farming was also important in the New Testament times. Farming lends itself to some great spiritual truths, as found throughout the Scripture. Through analogy, it can show us how we can cultivate spiritual growth, work hard, and be watered and refreshed by the Gospel.
Jesus talked often about the land and its products in his teachings, showing he was familiar with farming techniques. Jesus often taught in parables, an ancient Eastern literary genre. But he made use of the matter available in nature when he went around the cities and towns of Israel. For example, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire labourers for his vineyard” (Matthew 20:1). Jesus saw what was happening in and around the Israel farming culture and used those parameters in his parables for teaching. Whenever Jesus used words pertaining to farming, he used it to as an example from everyday life to convey a spiritual truth. Jesus often used farming methods and farm equipment to illustrate important teachings. (Matthew 11:28-30; Mark 4:3-9; Luke 13:6-9) Why? Because he lived in an agricultural society. Many who listened to him followed farming traditions that had remained unchanged for centuries. They appreciated his references to their daily activities. He could relate to them, and they were moved by what he taught (Matthew 7:28).

Jesus not only used words pertaining to farming but he also went further, saying His Father is a farmer. We are used to the translation in John 15:1, which says my Father is the “vine grower,” but the Greek is γεωργός (georgos) and the Latin is Agricola. Both ‘georgos’ and ‘Agricola’ mean farmer, not simply vine grower. God is the one who gives life, nourishes, tends, and brings to fruition. He is a farmer. Aquinas refers to this passage in Augustine and explains a little more what it means to cultivate God when commenting on John 15:

God cultivates us to make us better by his work since he roots out the evil weeds in our hearts. As Augustine says, “He opens our hearts with the plough of his words, plants the seeds of the commandments, and harvests the fruit of devotion”.  But we cultivate God, not by ploughing but
by adoring, so that we may become better  and produce a hundred fold by Him: ‘If anyone is a worshiper,’ that is, a cultivator, ‘of God and does his will, God listens to him’ (9:31).
“Cultivating” God, or worshiping Him, as these the same words in Latin, means cultivating a relationship with Him, by which we give Him honour and we are ourselves are cultivated, pruned and groomed. To be more like Him. The seeds of His life grow in us and blossom into divine life.

Sch. Royston SJ
DNC Times, Sep 2019, pg 3-4.