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September 28, 2007

Monocultures, Distress Sales and Farmer Suicides

The farmer suicides that have sadly become commonplace in our villages have been documented in some regions by journalists, P. Sainath and Jaideep Hardikar. Everywhere, farmers have been adversely affected by the increasing costs of inputs, fluctuating crop prices and everywhere, we find monocultures. What can a farmer do when the only thing growing on hes or his land is cotton? The farmer is pretty much at the mercy of the market leading to distress sales of crop. The buffer that biodiversity provides is lost in this culture of monocultures. Navdanya champions for biodiverse organic farming for many reasons: it is ecologically sound, a good economic model for the farmer and brings diverse nutrients into our diet that has been reduced in most part to wheat and rice.

Read more about farmer suicides in India: http://indiatogether.org/agriculture/suicides.htm

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