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Paula Jovanna Pachon Hamon

The document discusses the issue of pesticide suicide among cotton farmers in Andhra Pradesh, southern India. Over 20 smallholder cotton farmers have recently committed suicide by consuming lethal doses of pesticide as they faced mounting debts, falling cotton prices, and crop losses from pests despite repeatedly applying pesticides as encouraged by traders. Most of the farmers are extremely poor and were attracted by cheap loans to grow cotton on small plots of land but failed to repay their loans after whiteflies, boll weevils, and caterpillars destroyed much of their cotton crops. The suicides highlight the risks small farmers face from external pressures including pest outbreaks, crop failures, and debt.

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Carol Daniela Chamorro Ariza
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65 views2 pages

Paula Jovanna Pachon Hamon

The document discusses the issue of pesticide suicide among cotton farmers in Andhra Pradesh, southern India. Over 20 smallholder cotton farmers have recently committed suicide by consuming lethal doses of pesticide as they faced mounting debts, falling cotton prices, and crop losses from pests despite repeatedly applying pesticides as encouraged by traders. Most of the farmers are extremely poor and were attracted by cheap loans to grow cotton on small plots of land but failed to repay their loans after whiteflies, boll weevils, and caterpillars destroyed much of their cotton crops. The suicides highlight the risks small farmers face from external pressures including pest outbreaks, crop failures, and debt.

Uploaded by

Carol Daniela Chamorro Ariza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ACTIVITY 14.

COHESION
PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Presentado por:

JOHNATAN STIVEN RODRIGUEZ DUQUE ID 549507

Tutor:
PAULA JOVANNA PACHON HAMON

Asignatura:
INGLES III
NRC 7849

CORPORACIÓN UNIVERSITARIA MINUTO DE DIOS


FACULTAD ADMINISTRATIVA
ADMINISTRACIÓN DE EMPRESAS
BOGOTÁ, 2018

Pesticide suicide
The suicide of Samala Mallaiah in Nagara village grabbed media headlines. He owned one
acre of land, leased two more and grew cotton on all three. After making a loss in the first
year, he leased yet more land in an attempt to recover. Confronted with falling prices,
mounting debts and pest attacks, he committed harakiri. ‘Cotton has given us shattered
dreams,’ said one old farmer in Nagara village.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the crop losses and destruction in Andhra Pradesh
arose from the repeated application of excessive amounts of chemicals - a practice actively
encouraged by pesticides traders.

As many as 60,000 small farmers in the region of Andhra Pradesh, southern India, have
taken to farming cotton instead of food crops. Some 20 of them have recently committed
suicide by eating lethal doses of pesticide.

Most of the farmers are extremely poor. Attracted by cheap loans from pesticides traders
and the prospect of a quick buck, they borrowed heavily to raise cotton on small plots of
land.
Most of the farmers are extremely poor. Attracted by cheap loans from pesticides traders
and the prospect of a quick buck, they borrowed heavily to raise cotton on small plots of
land.

Whitefly, boll weevils and caterpillars multiplied and destroyed their crops, despite the
constant application of pesticides. The average yield of cotton fields in Andhra Pradesh fell
by more than half in just one year. Now the farmers are in no position to repay the loans or
feed their families.

Nearly half the pesticides used in India go into protecting cotton, the most important
commercial crop in the country. However, pests have shown increased immunity to a range
of pesticides. Last year there were heavy crop losses due to leaf-curl, which is caused by
the dreaded whitefly. This nondescript, milky-white fly sucks sap from the cotton leaves,
making them curl and dry up. The fly struck first in Pakistan and north-western India. Then
it turned south.

(New Internationalist, June 1998, p. 13)

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