Beyond the Cotton Fields


- Niqita Gupta
- http://www.niqitagupta.com










“He collapsed on the cot and within minutes had died in a pool of his vomit. Monocrotophos.” Renuka recalls. Gajanan Salam had become the 1373rd farmer to commit suicide in the last seven months in Maharashtra, due to failure of the cotton crop.
After her husband’s suicide, Renuka has been working as a seasonal wage labourer making 300 rupees a week. Uneducated, she is unable to calculate her pay but ensures both her children attend school regularly. Often, there is nothing but onion for dinner. Despite such struggles, Renuka lives on for the future of her children.
In the last seven months, farmer suicides in Maharashtra have seen an increase by 85%. A tangled web of factors: sinking groundwater levels, dependence on water-sucking cash crops such as cotton and sugarcane, mismatched input and output costs, unstable crop prices at the market and a lack of insurance have made the future of farmers bleak, very bleak.
Related Posts
Urban farming in London – without Chelsea tractors and designer wellies... 31st January 2013 | Colin Cafferty

PODCAST: Freya Najade and Strawberries in Winter... 15th July 2015 | Chris King

Forgotten 28th May 2014 | Manuel Pompeia

The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Older Generations... 31st January 2013 | Sandra Harper

PHOTO ESSAYS – Featured Essays
Beyond the Cotton Fields
27th August 2015 | Niqita Gupta“He collapsed on the cot and within minutes had died in a pool of his vomit. Monocrotophos.” Renuka recalls. Gajanan Salam had become the 1373rd farmer to commit suicide in the last seven months in Maharashtra, due to failure of the cotton crop.Read More
The Story of an Eviction
22nd October 2014 | Cinzia D'AmbrosiThe UK has had a steady increase in the number of evictions since the year 2000 records. According to the Ministry of Justice 37,739 private and public sector tenants in 2013 saw their homes repossessed by court bailiffs. Behind each figure, a whole set of events have taken place leaving many people and families completely broken. The story of Francesca is one of these stories that largely takes place within social tenancies. It is a reflection on what it is to be a social tenant, and how becoming homeless can happen in a short space of time.Read More