NAGPUR: A farmer from western Vidarbha, honoured by the state for his contribution to agriculture, died by suicide on Thursday, his suicide note focusing on the lack of adequate irrigation in this drought-prone region.
Kailash Nagre, 43, a recipient of Maharashtra’s prestigious Adarsha Yuva Shetkari Puruskar (Ideal Young Farmer Award) in 2020, consumed poison and died in his fields in Shivni Armal village in Buldhana district on Thursday morning.
At the forefront of protests demanding water for local farmland, Nagre left a three-page suicide note, which expressed his anguish over the lack of adequate irrigation in the region. In his note, he appealed to the chief minister and other people’s representatives to ensure that the issue is addressed with utmost urgency.
Nagre also said he was burdened by debt wrought by crop failure due to a water shortage. “I was unable to manage the house, the farm, court cases, education of my children, and keep them happy,” he wrote. Nagre is survived by a wife and three children.
A pall of gloom has descended over Shivni Armal village. A farmer leader has called Nagre’s death a “murder by the state”, while the opposition Congress has also held the BJP-led Mahayuti government responsible. His death has also brought to the fore numerous other challenges faced by farmers in a region in the throes of an agrarian crisis, and where farmers burdened by debt have been consistently dying by suicide.
Nagre’s death triggered outrage among local farmers, who initially refused to allow the police to take his body for a post-mortem examination, demanding concrete assurances from the authorities. Sub-Divisional Magistrate Sanjay Khadse intervened, assuring the villagers and Nagre’s family that the district administration would escalate the issue with the government. The last rites were eventually performed at Nagre’s his farm on Thursday evening.
Farmers’ Protests
Farmers in Nagre’s village and 13 neighbouring villages have been protesting the government’s failure to release water from the Khadakpurna dam, a key resource for agriculture in the area. Nagre was at the forefront of the protests, staging a seven-day hunger strike last December. He had recently been working towards securing water from the Khadakpurna reservoir, following government assurances. However, as months passed without any action, he became increasingly distressed. Unable to harvest his six-acre farm due to water scarcity, Nagre died by suicide.
The opposition said it is a matter of shame for the state government that a farmer should have died by suicide due to water shortage. Targeting chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, state Congress chief Harshawardhan Sapkal said that while the government is issuing gag orders, it is ignoring basic problems faced by the people, and also attempting to cause divisions between communities.
Farmer leader Ravikant Tupkar, who also hails from Buldhana, accusing the district administration, said Nagre’s was not a death by suicide but a “murder committed by the government”. “The government is not doing anything for the farmers. Even in the ongoing budget session there has been no discussion on the problems of the farmers,” Tupkar alleged.
Agrarian Crisis
Kishore Tiwari, former chairperson of the Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavlamban Mission (VNSSM), a state-appointed body meant to address the agrarian crisis in the state, pointed out that Vidarbha’s farmers are struggling due to poor crop prices and unfulfilled promises of loan waivers. Tiwari, who is also a senior activist of the Shiv Sena (UBT), said that 722 farmers have died by suicide in Vidarbha, in 2024, alone. Even so, this failed to gain traction in both the Lok Sabha and assembly elections last year, he said.
Data maintained by the state government indicates that during the first five months of 2024, one farmer died by suicide in the region almost every day. Amravati district recorded the highest number of such deaths in 2024, at 225, while Yavatmal was second at 200.
Tiwari also said farmers in Vidarbha had shifted to soya bean but saw a marked dip in yield. The rates dropped to ₹4,000-odd a quintal last year, while it was barely higher, at ₹4,400 this year. A similar trend was observed in raw cotton, where despite a good harvest, farmers failed to secure better prices. The procurement price of raw cotton in the market was barely ₹7,000 per quintal this season, he pointed out.
According to Tiwari, with inadequate access to banking credit, many farmers turn to small finance companies or private moneylenders, often facing aggressive recovery tactics. Since 2001, the Maharashtra government has been tracking cases of farmers’ deaths by suicide in Vidarbha’s worst-affected districts—Buldhana, Akola, Washim, Amravati, Yavatmal and Wardha. Over the past two decades, thousands of farmers in these districts have taken this extreme step due to the deepening agrarian crisis.