In the drought-stricken region of Marathwada, Maharashtra, the toll of climate change on farming communities is becoming increasingly tragic. The region, once fertile, has become a graveyard of failed crops and shattered lives. For 30-year-old Mirabai Khindkar, her land grows nothing but sorrow and debt. After years of erratic weather, her husband Amol took his own life, crushed by mounting loans and the devastation of repeated crop failures.
India, where nearly half the population relies on agriculture for their livelihood, has a long history of farmer suicides. But the worsening climate crisis is intensifying this tragedy. Rising temperatures, water shortages, unpredictable monsoons, and frequent floods have made small-scale farming a gamble. In 2023 alone, extreme weather events affected over 3.2 million hectares of Indian farmland—more than 60 percent of that damage occurred in Maharashtra.
Between 2022 and 2024, over 3,000 farmers in Marathwada died by suicide, an average of nearly three every day. Experts point to a combination of low income, lack of investment, poor productivity, and climate vulnerabilities as the driving forces. “Farming is becoming increasingly risky,” says development studies professor R. Ramakumar. “The economics of cultivation for small and marginal farmers are breaking down.”
Many farmers, denied formal credit, turn to loan sharks charging exorbitant interest. Amol’s debts ballooned to over $8,000 an insurmountable burden compared to the average monthly farm household income of $120. Like many widows in the region, Mirabai now works as a laborer, struggling to support her three children and haunted by the memory of her husband’s despair.
At another farm nearby, Shaikh Imran, 32, took over after his brother’s suicide. He’s already $1,100 in debt. “There’s no water to drink,” laments his mother, Khatijabi, as villagers resort to blasting underground wells in desperation.
Experts urge government intervention through robust insurance schemes and climate-resilient investments. “Agriculture should not be a gamble with the monsoon,” says Ramakumar. Without urgent support, India’s farmers may continue to pay the highest price.
