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By Linu Mathew Philip Research Officer, Centad, and Aldas Jenniah, National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, New Delhi
The paper explains how responsibility for the large number of suicides of cotton farmers in India rests equally with the unfair world trade order and domestic agricultural policies.
The Indian government liberalised cotton imports in 1991 leading to a huge surge in cheap cotton from countries like the United States which heavily subsidise cotton growing. The WTO has been unable to stop the subsidies despite its avowed intention of making trade fair. The high subsidies have led to dumping, depressed cotton prices internationally and domestically and made the Indian cotton farmer uncompetitive. In addition, the Indian farmer has to battle high input costs (seed and pesticide) and drought, since cotton is heavily dependent on rainfall. Agricultural policies are not geared to help or support a farmer, who - as a study cited in this paper proves - land in debt and commit suicide. Even if the yield is good, it will not fetch a good price in the market because of the cheap imports. Click here to read the full paper in PDF format.
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