SIX months ago, 65-year-old Kashinath Ravan Kolge killed himself by drinking pesticide. His wife Venubai Kolge says mounting debt drove him to suicide. "He had taken a loan to dig a borewell. But we did not get any water. We had no money left. The crops were yielding very little. It was a hopeless situation."

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Farmers in Haryana have been persuaded to give up growing a lucrative crop because of the harm it causes to the earth.

In the Banni region of Kutch, western Gujarat, there is a move to turn back the ecological clock.

Price support, not loans, can save Vidarbha farmers

Researcher prefer organic farming to chemicals and fertiliser

Syngenta charts new GMpath