Brigette59K at 18:23, 28 December 2025

2025-12-28T18:23:20Z

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{{Short description|Socioeconomic challenges in agricultural communities}}
[[File:NP India burning 46 (6314792401).jpg|thumb|Farmers in India]]
'''Agrarian distress''' refers to the [[Economy|economic]], [[Politics|political]], and [[social]] challenges faced by [[farmer]]s and [[Types of rural communities|rural communities]] due to factors such as [[Harvest|low crop yields]], [[Volatility (finance)|fluctuating prices]] of [[Agriculture|agricultural produce]], high input [[cost]]s, [[Debt|indebtedness]], and lack of access to credit, markets, and [[infrastructure]].<ref name="Southard Randell 2022 pp. 873–900">{{cite journal | last1=Southard | first1=Emily M. L. | last2=Randell | first2=Heather | title=Climate Change, Agrarian Distress, and the Feminization of Agriculture in South Asia * | journal=Rural Sociology | publisher=Wiley | volume=87 | issue=3 | date=2022-04-15 | issn=0036-0112 | doi=10.1111/ruso.12439 | pages=873–900| pmid=36405051 | pmc=9668104 }}</ref><ref name="Suri 2006 pp. 1523–1529">{{cite journal |last=Suri |first=K. C. |year=2006 |title=Political Economy of Agrarian Distress |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=41 |issue=16 |pages=1523–1529 |issn= |jstor=4418110 }}</ref><ref name="Kandlur Sardana Richardson-Vejlgaard 2022 p=100019">{{cite journal |last1=Kandlur |first1=Raksha |last2=Sardana |first2=Srishti |last3=Richardson-Vejlgaard |first3=Randall |year=2022 |title=The Agrarian distress: Factors explaining the will to live among rural and distressed family farmers |journal=Psychiatry Research Communications |publisher=Elsevier BV |volume=2 |issue=1 |article-number=100019 |doi=10.1016/j.psycom.2021.100019 |s2cid=245575600 |issn=|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Mishra 2010 pp. 126–163">{{cite book |last=Mishra |first=Srijit |title=Agrarian Crisis in India |date=2010-10-07 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=126–163 |chapter=Agrarian Distress and Farmers' Suicides in Maharashtra1 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198069096.003.0006|isbn=978-0-19-806909-6 }}</ref>

The term "agrarian distress" gained prominence in [[India]] in the 1990s when a wave of [[Farmers' suicides in India|farmer suicides]] occurred in the country.<ref name="Suri 2006 pp. 1523–1529" /><ref name="Kandlur Sardana Richardson-Vejlgaard 2022 p=100019" /><ref name="Mishra 2010 pp. 126–163" /> The reason for the suicides were due to various causes such as inadequate credit, poor market conditions, and insufficient technology that led to indebtedness.<ref name="Mishra 2010 pp. 126–163" />

In the [[2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest]], the issue of agrarian distress gained renewed attention due to the protests by farmers in India against agricultural bills that they claimed would hurt their livelihoods.<ref name="Pandey 2020">{{cite web |last=Pandey |first=Kiran |date=2020-09-25 |title=India's agrarian distress: How dissent has been on the rise |url=https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/agriculture/india-s-agrarian-distress-how-dissent-has-been-on-the-rise-73536 |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=Down To Earth}}</ref><ref name="BBC News 2018">{{cite web |date=2018-11-30 |title=India farmers: Tens of thousands march against agrarian crisis |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46396118 |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=BBC News}}</ref><ref name="Kumar 2022 pp. 483–494">{{cite journal |last=Kumar |first=Satendra |date=2022-09-28 |title=New Farm Bills and Farmers' Resistance to Neoliberalism |journal=Sociological Bulletin |publisher=SAGE Publications |volume=71 |issue=4 |pages=483–494 |doi=10.1177/00380229221116994 |s2cid=252624290 |issn=0038-0229}}</ref> The protests highlighted the long-standing issues faced by farmers in India, such as low income, lack of market access, and dependence on middlemen.<ref name="Pandey 2020" /><ref name="Kirti Arya 2021 pp. 6333–6340">{{cite journal |last=Kirti Arya |first=Ravi Ranjan Kumar, V.K. Yadav |date=2021-02-20 |title=Monsoon, Market and Middlemen as Key Ingredients to Agrarian Distress in Contemporary India: Prioritizing for Policy and Practice Based Interventions |journal=Psychology and Education Journal |publisher=Auricle Technologies, Pvt., Ltd. |volume=58 |issue=2 |pages=6333–6340 |doi=10.17762/pae.v58i2.3155 |s2cid=233900963 |issn=0033-3077|doi-access=free }}</ref> [[Neoliberalism|Neoliberal]] [[Economic policy|economic policies]] have contributed to the ongoing agrarian distress in India.<ref name="Mishra 2020 pp. 183–186">{{cite journal |last=Mishra |first=Deepak K. |date=2020-06-29 |title=Agrarian crisis and neoliberalism in India |journal=Human Geography |publisher=SAGE Publications |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=183–186 |doi=10.1177/1942778620935688 |s2cid=225768234 |issn=1942-7786|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Agrarian distress is not limited to India but is a global phenomenon.<ref name="Patnaik 2003 pp. 33–66">{{cite journal |last=Patnaik |first=Utsa |year=2003 |title=Global Capitalism, Deflation and Agrarian Crisis in Developing Countries |journal=Journal of Agrarian Change |publisher=Wiley |volume=3 |issue=1–2 |pages=33–66 |doi=10.1111/1471-0366.00050 |bibcode=2003JAgrC...3...33P |issn=1471-0358}}</ref> In many countries, small-scale farmers face challenges such as lack of access to resources, low yields, and volatile markets.<ref name="Patnaik 2003 pp. 33–66" />

== See also ==

* [[Farmers' suicides in India]]
* [[Family farm]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Agriculture]]

Agrarian distress - Revision history

Brigette59K at 18:23, 28 December 2025