'I Rue The Day We Ever Became Farmers': In Rural India, A Struggle To Survive
"The farmer dies feeding this country, but no one fights for the farmer," says a 60-year-old woman whose son, an onion farmer, committed suicide. He was $40,000 in debt. Her husband died days later.
Onion farmer Sanjay Sathe was so disappointed with how little he made from his recent harvest that he decided to pull a stunt: He sent a money order for his entire profit — a paltry $15 — to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who's running for re-election this spring. Sathe wanted to show him the meager earnings Indian farmers must live on.
Sathe, 44, grows onions on about an acre of land along a roadside about 130 miles from Mumbai, in rural Maharashtra. This little farm prospered under Sathe's grandfather and father. But now the family has a
