Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Apr 22 (PTI) Maharashtra’s Marathwada region has recorded 269 farmer suicides between January and March 2025, up from 204 such deaths registered in the same period last year, according to a report from the divisional commissioner office here.

The region in central Maharashtra, which consists of eight districts, is considered a semi-arid zone characterized by water scarcity due to low rainfall and monsoon variability.

Beed district recorded a notable rise in farmer suicides — from 44 in January-March 2024 to 71 in the first three months of the current year, said the report.

The first quarter of 2024 saw 204 farmer suicides in Marathwada and these numbers rose by 65 to reach 269 in the January-March period of the current year, it said.

The district-wise break-up of farmer suicides (January-March 2025) in Marathwada given in the report was: Beed (71), Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (50), Nanded (37), Parbhani (33), Dharashiv (31), Latur (18), Hingoli ( 16) and Jalna (13).

Raju Shetti, former Lok Sabha MP and president of the Shetkari Sanghatana, an outfit of cultivators, lashed out at the BJP-led Mahayuti government over suicide by farmers and demanded a waiver of agricultural loans.

Talking to PTI, he said, “The government promised to waive loans of farmers in the state during the last year’s assembly election campaign, but they did not do it. This was like cheating farmers.” He reflected on factors leading to small and marginal tillers taking their own lives.

“The per hectare yield of crops like cotton, soybean has gone down. On the other hand, input costs for these crops have gone up. If we talk about soybean, the farmers in Maharashtra have faced a loss of nearly Rs 8,500 crore as they sold their crop below the MSP (minimum support price) at Rs 1,200 per quintal in the last season,” Shetti noted.

The Centre had declared the MSP for soybean for the 2024-25 season at Rs 4,892 per quintal. PTI AW RSY