A grape orchard in Sangli district in Maharashtra. Telegraph picture

Kadegaon/Tasgaon (Sangli in western Maharashtra), Jan. 30: The scourge of traditional agriculture has spread to new-age crops with at least 86 debt-hit grape farmers killing themselves in Sangli and Solapur districts of western Maharashtra since January 2005.

In Sangli district, 400km from Mumbai, there have been 61 cases of suicide by farmers growing table grapes, a capital-intensive fruit, since 2003.

The suicides were not triggered by one failed crop: they were a result of five years of crop failure; unscrupulous middlemen who have kept the purchase price static at Rs 10 per kg; a prolonged period of rising input costs; and unremunerative prices for the produce.

While the initial investment for table grapes is much higher compared to other crops such as sugarcane or wheat or even wine grapes, it is also a high-risk endeavour. Grapes grow only in a controlled environment and are prone to fall prey to the slightest climate change. To cultivate an acre of grapes, a farmer needs to invest Rs 70,000, compared to Rs 40,000 for an acre of sugarcane.

In comparison, wine grapes require lower input costs, pest management is easier and there is an assured market. But farmers are attracted to table grapes because the fruit has a large market, especially for the variety used for making raisins. Raisins from here are sent to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Calcutta.

What has hit the farmer hard is that while he has to pay the market price for fertilisers and insecticides, he sells his crop much below the market value.

A kg of grapes is sold to middlemen from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for Rs 10, a price that has not changed for the past decade or so. In the open market in Mumbai, one kg is sold for Rs 30-40.

“We are at the mercy of these middlemen. It’s a tragedy that 20 years ago, we used to sell these grapes for Rs 10 and in 2008, we are still selling 4kg of grapes for Rs 35-40. There is no regularisation of prices and we don’t have the resources to take our crops to the open market without the help of these dalals,” says B.K. Gaekwad, who grows export quality grapes.

Raghunath Patil, the state president of the farmer’s organisation Shetkari Sanghatana, agrees. “While static prices are a reason for the indebtedness, another reason is the callousness of the government to spot a trend that’s evolved in the past 25 years. With the government banning the export of wheat and other grains, more and more farmers have moved to grape cultivation because of the high returns.”

According to Patil, the farmers do not realise that now the demand is less and the supply more. “Thus, while in reality, the market for grapes hasn’t come down, grape farmers are suffering because they have a land full of produce, but no one to sell them to. When the supply is more, it’s natural that the offered price becomes less.”

Sangli’s fertile soil is conducive for table grapes of export quality. But only 2 per cent of the farmers grow this variety because of the huge capital required, primarily to maintain quality and hygiene standards set by buyers abroad.

Gaekwad, for example, sells his produce to a European company for anything over Rs 40 per kg, depending on the quality. But he does not get any advance on his deal, so the entire risk is on his investment.

Gaekwad is among the few farmers who can meet the requirements for producing export-quality grapes. Others are not as lucky. Most marginal farmers who committed suicide had been unable to recover from losses suffered during the 2002-2004 drought. In Sangli, the entire grape crop was destroyed. Around 35,000 acres of grape farms ended the season with no output, affecting at least 30,000 farmers.

Parshuram Yadav, who killed himself in December

Besides losing their crops, farmers owed lakhs to moneylenders and banks. Parshuram Bapu Yadav, 62, of Vajrachoundi village, was among them.

Yadav, who owned two acres of grape farm, had taken a loan of Rs 2 lakh from the local cooperative bank in 2002. The drought-stricken years of 2003 and 2004 resulted in poor yield, and Yadav’s arrears touched Rs 3.5 lakh. On December 26, 2007, the Sangli District Central Co-operative Bank issued him a notice for repayment of arrears within seven days. Yadav could not meet the deadline and hanged himself on his farm on December 30.

Before 2004, the interest on loans was 18 per cent (that was the time when most of the farmers who had committed suicide took the loans) per annum. Now, it is between 12.5 and 14 per cent.

“This is the case not only with sugarcane or grapes, but with other cash crops as well. Moreover, once the banks stop giving loans to farmers, the only other source of funds is private lenders who charge as much as 5 per cent per month. Some farmers even pledge their crop to the moneylender,” said Patil.

Sangli is home to three ministers — Patangrao Kadam (co-operation and rehabilitation), Jayant Patil (finance) and R.R. Patil (home).

None of the three was available for comment. Kadam is said to have spent a princely Rs 40 lakh to celebrate his birthday a month after K.P. Mane, an former military man, committed suicide last month after failing to repay Rs 7 lakh.

Relief for the farmers could, however, come from companies. Mahindra Shubhlabh Services Ltd, a Mahindra group company, has set a target of exporting 250 containers of grapes (around 3,000 tonnes) in the current grape season, 2007-08 (November ’07 to March ’08).

In Nashik district, the company has signed contracts with 700 growers to source export quality grapes from their 1,600 acres of vineyards. In Sangli, it has inked deals with 75 growers to source grapes from their 350 acres.