They lived life on credit and died in instalments

AKOLA: It all began with Purushottam Manikrao Deshmukh in 2003. The following year, it was his younger son, Sunil. And barely a month back, his elder son, Santosh committed suicide.

They all lived on credit, and when death came, it came in instalments.

In four years, the Deshmukh family in Katyar - a cotton-producing village of about 3000 people 35 km east of Akola - lost all its men to a crisis that has been the bane of the entire Vidarbha region over the last few years.

A sip of pesticide was the tonic of death for each of the Deshmukhs. The white crop undid each of the Deshmukh family’s male member, burdened by mounting loans over the last four years, in spite of various experiments with the business model. The Deshmukhs owned 22 acres of land.

“When my father-in-law committed suicide, we did not inform the administration. He had debts that he couldn’t repay after suffering huge crop losses for three consecutive years due to calamities,” said Santosh’s widow, Jyoti.

That year, he went for Bt cotton — it was the first year of genetic seed for the region. The cultivation cost spiralled manifold, due to the exorbitant seed price.

Despite good prices offered by the government-run scheme to cotton that year, the crop damage owing to excessive rains left him in near penury. “He couldn’t overcome the tension of repayment of debts and ended his life,” said Jyoti.

After Purushottam’s suicide, the two sons got 11 acres each, as also an equal share of the outstanding bank loan of Rs 2 lakh.

Sunil decided to “diversify” into allied business in 2003-04 farm season. The previous season’s competitive prices lured him to give a try at being a small-time cotton trader as well.

But little did he know that he was venturing into the world of highly volatile global markets.

He was presumably prompted by the discontinuation of the Monopoly Cotton Procurement Scheme by the government that year, allowing private buyers to buy cotton directly from the farmers.

Sunil bought cotton from farmers in his village at a price ranging between Rs2,500 and Rs2,700, thinking that even if cotton clings on to the previous year’s base index of Rs 3,000 a quintal, it would mean an earning of Rs 300 a quintal. For a total procurement of 500 quintal, that would have fetched him Rs1,50,000.

That, alas, was a far-fetched dream. The prices crashed to Rs 1,800. Over and above the loss of over Rs 3 lakh, Sunil had borrowed at 10 per cent per month to buy the cotton.

Concurrently, their own farm income too dipped sharply. Sunil could not withstand the pressure from his borrowers and the 34-year-old committed suicide on March 10, 2004, leaving behind his wife and his three-year-old daughter.

“After Sunil’s suicide, moneylenders started harassing my husband. I could sense his growing tension,” said Jyoti. Santosh mortgaged his land and sold two of the three pairs of bullocks to bail himself out. But he could not break the vicious cycle.

So, when heavy rains swept away the first sowing and destroyed his land earlier in June, Santosh followed in his father’s and brother’s footsteps and ended his life.

Jyoti is determined to keep the farming occupation running and repay the loans. She hopes for helping hands from both her children, who are studying for a diploma course in agriculture.