Over the past few years, to be precise from the beginning of this decade, we have been hearing of farmers' suicide from many parts of the country, namely Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala etc. There could be many more in different parts of the country. But these are the ones that I have heard of more often. Here I am writing on my experiences with farmer's suicide in Kerala.
As part of my course in IRMA (year 2005), I was to study the livelihood crisis of pepper farmers in Pulpally village of Wayanad district over a period two months. This was a period when a number of instances of farmers' committing suicide were reported in mainstream media. Freshly inducted into IRMA, I was a novice and was diffident about conducting the study. However, I wanted to do this study to the best of my ability and went about diligently trying to understand the issue. However at the end of two months in Pulpally, when I presented the study to my batchmates and professors at IRMA, I was told by one of my professors that I was focusing too much on the economic aspect of the crisis with very little attention paid to the other factors that are in operation. I was disappointed and frustrated as I had put in considerable effort during the two months. But apparently I had spent most of my time trying to understand the cost structures of pepper cultivation, trading, its profitability and then linked all this to explain the crisis without going into the 'human' aspect of the crisis. During my stay in Wayanad, I did make many observations on these 'human' aspects like community, non economic factors that influence individual farmer's decision making with regard to cropping pattern etc. However these did not gain much prominence in the presentation and hence the comment from the professor. Now after four years, I think it is time I corrected the error and it is with this thought that I am writing this.
The crisis does have an economic angle to it. There is no denying that. I think anyone attempting to deny it would be blind to the reality. Just to illustrate. Most of the suicides were by pepper farmers who had to default on their loans. The fall in pepper prices wass dramtic in its suddenness and magnitude. It fell from about Rs.25,000 a quintal to Rs.5,000 a quintal in a period of about two years. No amount of business acumen would have helped any farmer predict this disruption in future cash flow. That was purely the result of certain policies followed by the governments of the time. Having said that I must quickly add that while that is a major part of the story it still is only a part. I cannot say that I have an insight into the entire story but I think I will be able to add a few further dimensions to it. What I have written below is largely based on conversations wtih people there and references to some publications. I cannot claim to be very accurate but I do believe that it is a fair description.
As a starting point for the analysis, it might be useful to go back to the history of Pulpally, specifically around the 1940s and 1950s. Till about the mid of 1940s (if I remember correctly) the place was largely populated by tribal population. Towards the latter part of the 1940s, there was a proclamation from the authorities that land belonging to the temple authority there would be allotted to farmers. This came as a boon for many farmers (largely Christian) in the southern parts of Kerala of the time. Many of them were reeling under debt and was finding it difficult to withstand the pressure of repaying the debt. Many sold their lands for a pittance to service their debt. So when the proclamation came it was an opportune moment for them as it offered them a chance for a fresh start in a new land. Accordingly many families decided to migrate to Pulpally. However there was a lot of fear also in moving to this new land. Wayanad then largely was covered in forests with very little infrastructure. There was the fear of how the local community would react. The irrational beliefs about tribal societies might have added further to the fear. The annual magazines of the churches in Pulpally describes the angst that many families felt. There was much distress and crying among the relatives and friends who were parting ways perhaps forever. It is in this context that the first settlers came from the central and southern parts of Kerala to Wayanad.
The early settlers found the new land highly inhospitable although blessed with spectacular beauty of nature. There were no roads, no hospitals nearby, extremely cold nights, the fear of wild animals, difficult relation with the local community and the like. The magazines mentioned above narrate stories of malaria claiming many lives, pregnant women dying on the way to distant hospitals, the long trek in large groups to sell the produce in the markets, the injuries due to animal attack, extreme cold etc. In spite of these difficulties through sheer enterprise and hardwork they slowly started rebuilding their life in the new land. The settlers exhibited a strong resolve and resilience as a community. Roads were built, collectives were organised to access markets, churches were built, events were celebrated together. (This was accompanied by the tribal communities loosing much of their land to the settlers and becoming agricultural labourers. Unsurprisingly the magazines mentioned above which I had read does not make a reference to this. I picked this up from conversations from members of the tribal community.)
Over a period of 40 years, many of the settlers became wealthy and lived a life of reasonable comfort. Pulpally became know in Kerala as the "Mini Gulf" as many people from other parts of Kerala came here searching for work. But the period was also marked by exploitation of the poorer sections of the community as evidenced by the long history of Naxalite activity in the region. (Interestingly a Naxalite attack in a police station in the region in the 70s led to the development of infrastructure in the region as the government wanted to bring in more forces and better control of the place.) Much of the economic growth happened in the late 80s and 90s with pepper fetching a good price in the markets.
The trouble for the farmers began in the early years of this decade with India entering into a free trade agreement with Sri Lanka and pepper from Sri Lanka flooding the Indian markets. The prices for pepper began falling from the highs of Rs.25,000 a quintal to Rs.5,000 a quintal. The farmers were hit badly. Education of children became difficult. Marriages for girls became a constant worry for parents. Debts began to mount. The resultant humiliation was more than many could bear. Some left Pulpally in search of jobs, some sold land and other property and some where caught between the devil and the deep sea. Some lost all hope and took their own lives. During my stay in the village in late 2005, the tea shop were I went for my breakfast would have people discussing the latest suicide.
A question that began to bother me was that if the previous generations of the farmers, namely the settlers could display such resilience in their early days in Pulpally and also before, why was the current generation finding it difficult to overcome the crisis. More worryingly the churches that dotted the landscape of Pulpally did not seem to have been able to prevent these suicides. These were questions that I had in mind. I found it difficult to ask these questions openly to people. But since my study was closely linked to this, many of my conversations seemed to throw a light on these questions. In one such conversation, as an aside a young man was explaining to me how life in the village had changed over the years. He took the example of how weddings were celebrated to illustrate his point. Earlier when a wedding was to happen in a family, all the relatives would gather a couple of days earlier and start the preparations. The friends and neighbours would chip in with help. It could take the form of bringing in chairs and other furniture for guests, helping with the decorations and other arrangements, cooking etc. There was a sense of ownership among the immediate community atleast about the wedding in one particular family. However nowadays the relatives, friends and neighbours are like the guests. They turn up on the day of the wedding and leave as soon as the ceremony is over. Everything arrangement is 'professionally' handled. Decorations are done by caterers, chairs and cooking vessels are rented and organising everything becomes the responsibility of the immediate family. When one reads this along with the earlier mentioned stories of collective action, I think it does point to a certain shift in the sense of communitarianism that existed among people.
In the context of the farmers' suicides, I think the absence of this sense of communitarianism meant that the cushion provided by the immediate community vanished in times of distress to the farmer. When burdened with debt, he possibly did not find anyone around him who could provide him the comfort. Alone and humiliated, deprived of hope, a man would be driven to end his life. The absense of crisis is not the hallmark of good life. The ability to withstand a crisis is. Some crisis can be withstood individually. But some can be withstood only collectively. The true crisis in Pulpally was possibly the slow but steady erosion of the values of the collective which left hapless individuals fighting a lone battle against the forces of the global world order.
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