Marathwada, comprising eight districts in Maharashtra, has emerged as an epicenter of India's farmer suicide crisis, accounting for a disproportionate share of agricultural distress-related deaths. This paper examines farmer suicides not as isolated outcomes of climatic stress but as complex phenomena shaped by intersecting agrarian distress, indebtedness, market volatility, crop failure, landholding patterns, mental health challenges, social pressures, and systemic policy failures. Analysing NCRB data (2021-2023), district-level suicide registers, and documented case studies, this research reveals that between 2022-2024, Marathwada recorded 3,090 farmer suicides, with Beed district alone reporting 269 deaths in 2023-nearly one per day. The study demonstrates that debt burden (prioritized by 87% of affected families), addiction, environmental degradation, poor price realization, and inadequate institutional support create compounding vulnerabilities that drought alone cannot explain. Drawing on qualitative research identifying eleven causative factors and evidence-based interventions, this paper proposes comprehensive policy reforms emphasizing sustainable agriculture, mental health infrastructure, institutional credit access, crop insurance improvements, and long-term climate resilience.
Shriram Kisan Jadhav (2026) studied this question.