Indian farmers are rioting and killing themselves. Many accuse the prime minister of neglecting them in favor of Hindu nationalists and big business as opposition parties vie for votes, with offers of debt relief.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: In India, food prices are low. This keeps poor people from starving. It also means little profit for farmers. That's caused Indian farmers to take to the streets.</s>UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting in foreign language).</s>AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: They're demanding the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi forgive their debt and set higher prices for produce. NPR's Lauren Frayer traveled to rural Maharashtra to meet farmers, a powerful voting bloc in the upcoming election.</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Sanjay Sathe grows onions on about an acre of land on a roadside.</s>SANJAY SATHE: Onion, onion.</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: This little farm prospered under Sathe's grandfather and father. Now the family has a side gig raising goats because the price of onions keeps falling.</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: We're looking at about a football field-sized onion field. And how many onions can you grow in this field?</s>SANJAY SATHE: (Speaking Marathi).</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: From a good harvest, he says he can make the equivalent of about $350. That has to last his family half a year. But this harvest was not good. He made a paltry 15 bucks and decided to pull a stunt. Sathe sent a money order for his entire profit, that whopping $15, to the prime minister of India, who's running for re-election. Sathe wanted to show him how little farmers have to live on.</s>SANJAY SATHE: (Through interpreter) The government neglects farmers. It gives tax breaks to big business, and it plays up controversies over Hindu temples and such, all of it for votes. But look at us. We're dying here.</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: He's not being dramatic. There's been a suicide epidemic among Indian farmers as food prices drop and pesticides and fertilizers get more expensive. This Indian government has been cautious about meeting farmers' demands for higher food prices, says economist R. Ramakumar.</s>R RAMAKUMAR: Farmers want higher prices. Consumers want lower prices. So there is enormous opposition to the idea of increasing the minimum support prices for farmers because it is argued that it will lead to inflation.</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: In the case of onions, there's no minimum price, so it's particularly volatile. In recent weeks, the price of onions has dropped by more than 80 percent because of surplus and fewer exports.</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Workers pack onions at Maharashtra's wholesale market. My producer and I found rows upon rows of flatbed trucks overflowing with onions rotting in the sun.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FARMER: (Speaking Marathi).</s>UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER: So they wait to see the prices will go up. So they waited, waited, waited. And now these have become really old.</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Whose onions are these? Is it someone here?</s>UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER: (Speaking Marathi).</s>UNIDENTIFIED FARMER: (Speaking Marathi).</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Farmer Vijay Ghayal simply refuses to sell at a loss.</s>VIJAY GHAYAL: (Speaking Hindi).</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: At this rate, he says he can't even afford the rent on his truck. The farmers all look desperate. Meanwhile, farmer Sathe got his money order returned from the prime minister. And he got some somber news from fellow farmers. Two local onion growers had killed themselves.</s>IRABAI JADHAV: (Crying).</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Sitting cross-legged on her cement floor, Irabai Jadhav describes how she lost her son. He was about $40,000 in debt. He drank pesticide in late November. Irabai's husband died of a heart attack 12 days later. And now she is left with all of their bills.</s>IRABAI JADHAV: (Through interpreter) My son was the only one educated in our family. He's the only one who understood the loan documents. I'm worried about how I'll feed his children. I rue the day we ever became farmers. The farmer dies feeding this country, but no one fights for the farmer.</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: With elections coming, political parties are fighting for farmers' votes, offering to forgive debt owed to state banks. But many loans to farmers are private and predatory. Interest rates average around 40 percent. Half of India works in agriculture, and people here say onion prices can sway elections. The widow Irabai Jadhav's family says whoever's willing to help them will have their votes. Lauren Frayer, NPR News, in rural Maharashtra, India.