(This story originally appeared in on Jan 03, 2020)

MUMBAI: Maharashtra saw a steep rise in farmer suicides last November — 300 cases that month — the first time in four years. Farmer suicides had crossed 300 cases in a month several times in 2015.The spurt in cases came immediately after unseasonal rains lashed the state from October, destroying almost 70% of kharif crop. The last time the state had touched or crossed 300 farmer suicides in a month was in 2015.Between October and November last year, the number of cases rose 61%, shows the latest revenue department data. The state recorded 186 farmer suicides in October. The cases rose by another 114 in November.The drought-prone belt of Marathwada recorded the highest number of 120 cases in November 2019 while Vidarbha , which usually sees the largest number of farmer suicides, recorded 112 cases.As a result of the rise in cases that month, farmer suicides in the 11-month period between January and November 2019 were higher than those in the same period in 2018. During this period in 2019, the numbers totalled 2,532, up from 2,518 in 2018.The unseasonal rains hit one crore farmers in the state, on par with the population of Sweden. This accounts for two-thirds of the state’s farmers. The bulk of the farmers affected or 44 lakh of the total figure are from Marathwada.The government is also in the process of providing compensation to farmers. So far Rs 6,552 crore has been distributed to those affected, officials say. The Maha Vikas Aghadi government also announced a loan waiver in December 2019. The earlier BJP-led government had declared a loan waiver in 2017 which led to loans worth Rs 18,000 crore being waived for 44 lakh farmers.Activists say beyond loan waivers and compensation, the state needs to make farming more profitable. “The cost of farming inputs and labour is so high that the farmer cannot survive a bad season. This is the main reason for the suicides. Farmers need to be able to earn more through the sale of produce. The economics of farming are tilted against farmers,” says Vidarbha-based activist Vijay Jawandhia.Last year the Marathwada region had a rain deficit in monsoon . Western Maharashtra was lashed by floods in July-August which damaged 4 lakh hectares of crop. And just when the kharif harvest was underway, the unseasonal rains struck, impacting 93 lakh hectares of crop.