With the mounting firgures of farmer suicides looming large, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Saturday, lamented that lack of institutional support for small and marginal agriculturists and their dependence on private finances were key causes of farmer indebtedness and poverty.
Dr Singh, who recently announced a Rs 3750 crore relief package for farmers in Vidarbha in the wake of unabated farmer suicides, recalled that in the underdeveloped region of Maharashtra debt incurred by small and marginal farmers to dig wells and augment water supply for cash crops has 'contributed to their indebtedness'.
"Debt, in turn, has driven many of them to desperation," he said without using the term 'suicides'.
The prime minister was addressing the first meeting of the Advisory Council on Artificial Recharge of Groundwater.
Water availability for agriculture, he said, remained the 'most critical and perhaps the most limiting factor' on its growth.
"Investment in surface irrigation systems has created islands of prosperity but has done little to improve local food security in many parts of the country," Dr Singh said.
Expressing serious concern over the sharp decline in ground water levels across the country, he said there was need to develop ways of restricting and regulating large users of groundwater, 'often found in our urban and industrial sectors'.
"Water management strategies will need to be carefully designed so that they contribute to a more equitable growth process," Dr Singh asserted.
© 2026