IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/climat/v163y2020i4d10.1007_s10584-020-02935-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding farmers’ suicidal ideation: a structural equation modeling study in Maharashtra, India

Author

Listed:
  • Deepika Swami

    (Interdisciplinary Program in Climate Studies)

  • Prashant Dave

    (Interdisciplinary Program in Climate Studies)

  • Devanathan Parthasarathy

    (Interdisciplinary Program in Climate Studies
    Indian Institute of Technology Bombay)

Abstract

India is witnessing an increasing rate of farmers’ suicide, which has been attributed to indebtedness by most of the studies. Indebtedness can be attributed to multiple factors, including individual, household, community, climatic, institutional, and market-oriented factors. The majority of studies have related these factors with indebtedness in isolation, but the conflating effect of these factors has not been investigated. Moreover, it is observed that farmers follow different adaptation measures to deal with crop failure and socio-economic and climatic stressors, which also play a significant role in their well-being. However, the relationship of these adaptation measures toward indebtedness and farmers’ suicide was found to be missing in the existing literature, which would otherwise provide valuable information regarding how to deal with farmers’ suicide. Considering the compounding effect of these factors on farmers’ suicide, we evaluated and quantified the relationship of individual, community, climatic, credit, and market-oriented factors with adaptation and indebtedness, which were subsequently related to suicidal ideation of farmers. This complex relationship was estimated using structural equation modeling (SEM) by surveying 400 farmers across 15 villages in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of Maharashtra. SEM results show that individual traits, i.e., age, experience, and illness of farmers; community-oriented factors, i.e., provision of lakes, wells, water tanks; credit factor, i.e., moneylenders; perception of climate change; and market factors are the primary factors contributing toward farmers’ suicidal ideation. Adaptation was found to play a vital role in reducing the indebtedness and suicidal thoughts of the farming community. Results emphasize that a combined and thorough understanding of all the factors is required before making any recommendations to the government or any other decision-making entity.

Suggested Citation

  • Deepika Swami & Prashant Dave & Devanathan Parthasarathy, 2020. "Understanding farmers’ suicidal ideation: a structural equation modeling study in Maharashtra, India," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 163(4), pages 2175-2200, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:163:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s10584-020-02935-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-020-02935-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-020-02935-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10584-020-02935-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rupsha Banerjee, 2015. "Farmers’ perception of climate change, impact and adaptation strategies: a case study of four villages in the semi-arid regions of India," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 75(3), pages 2829-2845, February.
    2. Gruere, Guillaume & Mehta-Bhatt, Purvi & Sengupta, Debdatta, 2008. "Bt Cotton and farmer suicides in India: Reviewing the evidence," IFPRI discussion papers 808, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Ranjan, Ram, 2017. "Challenges to Farm Produce Marketing: A Model of Bargaining between Farmers and Middlemen under Risk," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 42(3), September.
    4. Jeromi, P.D., 2007. "Impact of Agricultural Trade Liberalisation: Farmers’ Indebtedness and Suicides in Kerala," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 1-17.
    5. Khanal, Uttam & Wilson, Clevo & Hoang, Viet-Ngu & Lee, Boon, 2018. "Farmers' Adaptation to Climate Change, Its Determinants and Impacts on Rice Yield in Nepal," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 139-147.
    6. John Herbert Ainembabazi & Johnny Mugisha, 2014. "The Role of Farming Experience on the Adoption of Agricultural Technologies: Evidence from Smallholder Farmers in Uganda," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(5), pages 666-679, May.
    7. Anoush Ficiciyan & Jacqueline Loos & Stefanie Sievers-Glotzbach & Teja Tscharntke, 2018. "More than Yield: Ecosystem Services of Traditional versus Modern Crop Varieties Revisited," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, August.
    8. Rosseel, Yves, 2012. "lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 48(i02).
    9. Karthikeyan Mariappan & Deyi Zhou, 2019. "A Threat of Farmers’ Suicide and the Opportunity in Organic Farming for Sustainable Agricultural Development in India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-17, April.
    10. L. Toma & A. P. Barnes & L.-A. Sutherland & S. Thomson & F. Burnett & K. Mathews, 2018. "Impact of information transfer on farmers’ uptake of innovative crop technologies: a structural equation model applied to survey data," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 864-881, August.
    11. Bayard, Budry & Jolly, Curtis, 2007. "Environmental behavior structure and socio-economic conditions of hillside farmers: A multiple-group structural equation modeling approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(3-4), pages 433-440, May.
    12. Alauddin, Mohammad & Sarker, Md Abdur Rashid, 2014. "Climate change and farm-level adaptation decisions and strategies in drought-prone and groundwater-depleted areas of Bangladesh: an empirical investigation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 204-213.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thu-Huong Nguyen & Oz Sahin & Michael Howes, 2021. "Climate Change Adaptation Influences and Barriers Impacting the Asian Agricultural Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-17, June.
    2. Ojo, T.O. & Baiyegunhi, L.J.S., 2020. "Determinants of climate change adaptation strategies and its impact on the net farm income of rice farmers in south-west Nigeria," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    3. Kuang, Foyuan & Jin, Jianjun & He, Rui & Wan, Xinyu & Ning, Jing, 2019. "Influence of livelihood capital on adaptation strategies: Evidence from rural households in Wushen Banner, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    4. Demarchi, Gabriela & Subervie, Julie & Leite, Fernando Palha & Laclau, Jean-Paul, 2021. "Farmers' preferences for water-saving strategies in Brazilian eucalypt plantations," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    5. Nagisa Shiiba & Hide-Fumi Yokoo & Voravee Saengavut & Siraprapa Bumrungkit, 2023. "Ambiguity Aversion And Individual Adaptation To Climate Change: Evidence From A Farmer Survey In Northeastern Thailand," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 14(01), pages 1-29, February.
    6. Md. Sadique Rahman & Farhad Zulfiqar & Hayat Ullah & Sushil Kumar Himanshu & Mofasser Rahman & Avishek Datta, 2024. "Does the adoption of homestead gardening increase dietary diversity in climate-vulnerable coastal areas? Evidence from Bangladesh," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 859-878, September.
    7. Nasir Abbas Khan & Uttam Khanal & Clevo Wilson & Ashfaq Ahmad Shah & Muhammad Atiq Ur Rehman Tariq, 2022. "The Impact of Farmers’ Adaptation to Climate Change on Rice Yields: Implications for Sustainable Food Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, December.
    8. Shuiping Quan & Yingming Li & Jianxin Song & Tao Zhang & Mingyue Wang, 2019. "Adaptation to Climate Change and its Impacts on Wheat Yield: Perspective of Farmers in Henan of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-12, April.
    9. Alauddin, Mohammad & Tisdell, Clement & Sarker, Md. Abdur Rashid, 2021. "Do trends in Bangladeshi rice yields support Conway’s hypotheses about the consequences of modern agroecosystems?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 342-354.
    10. Afriyie-Kraft, Lydia & Zabel, Astrid & Damnyag, Lawrence, 2020. "Adaptation strategies of Ghanaian cocoa farmers under a changing climate," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    11. Md. Mominur Rahman & Bilkis Akhter, 2021. "The impact of investment in human capital on bank performance: evidence from Bangladesh," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-13, December.
    12. César Merino-Soto & Gina Chávez-Ventura & Verónica López-Fernández & Guillermo M. Chans & Filiberto Toledano-Toledano, 2022. "Learning Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-L): Psychometric and Measurement Invariance Evidence in Peruvian Undergraduate Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    13. Nathaniel Oliver Iotti & Damiano Menin & Tomas Jungert, 2022. "Early Adolescents’ Motivations to Defend Victims of Cyberbullying," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-9, July.
    14. Christoph Dworschak, 2024. "Bias mitigation in empirical peace and conflict studies: A short primer on posttreatment variables," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 61(3), pages 462-476, May.
    15. Andreea-Ionela Puiu & Anca Monica Ardeleanu & Camelia Cojocaru & Anca Bratu, 2021. "Exploring the Effect of Status Quo, Innovativeness, and Involvement Tendencies on Luxury Fashion Innovations: The Mediation Role of Status Consumption," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-18, May.
    16. Slupphaug, KJell & Mehmetoglu, Mehmet & Mittner, Matthias, 2024. "modsem: An R package for estimating latent interactions and quadratic effects," OSF Preprints h3rpw, Center for Open Science.
    17. Allen, Jaime & Muñoz, Juan Carlos & Ortúzar, Juan de Dios, 2019. "On evasion behaviour in public transport: Dissatisfaction or contagion?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 626-651.
    18. Merkle, Edgar C. & Steyvers, Mark & Mellers, Barbara & Tetlock, Philip E., 2017. "A neglected dimension of good forecasting judgment: The questions we choose also matter," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 817-832.
    19. Sai-fu Fung & Esther Oi-wah Chow & Chau-kiu Cheung, 2020. "Development and Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of a Brief Wisdom Development Scale," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-14, April.
    20. Goran Calic & Moren Lévesque & Anton Shevchenko, 2024. "On why women-owned businesses take more time to secure microloans," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 917-938, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:163:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s10584-020-02935-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.