Contributed articles with reference to the state of Andhra Pradesh, India.

The multi-dimensional nature of farmers' distress in several states of India is pushing farmers to commit suicides. The deficiencies in institutional factors — those related to credit, insurance, supply of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and marketing —are becoming serious. Social factors such as the non-empowerment of elected local bodies, the exploitative attitude of moneylenders and merchants, and gender discrimination are aggravating the deprivation of small and marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers. Compounding the crumbling institutional and social support systems are the other factors such as disconnection between research, education and extension organizations and rural realities, land degradation, unsustainable exploitation of groundwater and consecutive droughts. All these resulted in the agrarian crisis, more particularly in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat and Punjab. Analyzing some of these factors pertaining to agrarian crisis and farmer's suicides, a pilot study and other articles in this book analytically bring out the prevailing situation in Andhra Pradesh. A few articles in the book also highlight the situation in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Punjab. Some of the implications discussed by the academicians, activists, researchers and others will definitely help the policy makers in their future programme to safeguard and strengthen the livelihood security of the families of resource-poor small and marginal farmers. The book will be of immense use both for the scholars and the government authorities.

This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the macro- and micro-level issues associated with agrarian distress. It analyses structural, institutional, and policy changes, highlighting the failure of public support system in agriculture. The crisis manifests itself in the form of deceleration in growth and distress of farmers. The case studies from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Punjab bring out the diversity of conditions prevalent in the states.

This volume is the twelfth in the series ‘Land Reforms in India’. The essays in this volume bring out the multi-dimensional aspects of the agrarian crisis, and its impact on farmers’ suicides leading to public policy. A distinctive feature of this collection is its holistic approach towards viewing farm sector distress, instead of looking for isolated causes and solutions.

Ending poverty and stabilizing climate change will be two unprecedented global achievements and two major steps toward sustainable development. But the two objectives cannot be considered in isolation: they need to be jointly tackled through an integrated strategy. This report brings together those two objectives and explores how they can more easily be achieved if considered together. It examines the potential impact of climate change and climate policies on poverty reduction. It also provides guidance on how to create a “win-win†? situation so that climate change policies contribute to poverty reduction and poverty-reduction policies contribute to climate change mitigation and resilience building. The key finding of the report is that climate change represents a significant obstacle to the sustained eradication of poverty, but future impacts on poverty are determined by policy choices: rapid, inclusive, and climate-informed development can prevent most short-term impacts whereas immediate pro-poor, emissions-reduction policies can drastically limit long-term ones.