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Maharashtra has formed a special task force to address agricultural distress due to climate change and to prevent farmers’ suicides. A 10-member committee comprising eight government officials and two experts, constituted by the Commissioner of Agriculture of Maharashtra, held its first meeting on Monday (February 16, 2026).
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As per the government order issued by Agriculture Commissioner Suraj Mandhare and accessed byThe Hindu, the main aims of the task force are to study social, economic, psychological and agriculture-related factors which lead to farmers’ distress and suicides; find implementable solutions for climate change related agricultural distress issues; bring all the current schemes and programmes for suicide prevention under an integrated approach and add mental health support to these measures; put in place a special action plan for emergency situations; prepare local-level action plans and link them to regional plans; and coordinate with non-governmental and semi-governmental organisations for effective implementation of measures.
Mr. Mandhare said that a similar small scale experiment in Nashik in 2019 had proven to be successful in reducing farmers’ suicides in the district substantially. “As the Agriculture Commissioner, I decided that we should bring everyone together and focus on a proactive approach across the State. The focus should not be on compensation after suicides, but on prevention of suicides and increasing the income of the farmers,” he told The Hindu from Pune.
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The members of the committee include Rafiq Naikwadi, Sunil Borkar, Uday Deshmukh, Ganesh Ghorpade, Jeevan Bunde, Nandkishor Nainwad, Satyajeet Shitole, Vinayak Hegana, Srushti Doijad and Sonali Shilkar. Vinayak Hegana started Maharashtra’s first suicide prevention helpline dedicated for farmers. Srushti Doijad is a psychologist who has done extensive research on the mental health of women farmers.
The task force has reviewed and collected the suggestions given by all the committees appointed on the issue so far. It concluded that there was a need to improve loan distribution mechanism, irrigation and water management, minimum support price system and mediator-free markets, crop rotation, social security measures and control of seed quality and crop insurance.
“We discussed a direct action plan and strategized for long-term, medium term and short term intervention measures,” Mr. Hegana said. The intervention will be aimed at creating sustainable livelihoods and increasing the incomes of the farmers. The four points of focus for the task force will be – social, economical, agricultural and mental health of the farmers, he said.
Maharashtra is the worst-affected State due to farmers’ distress with 781 suicides reported in the first nine months of 2025.
(Those in distress can dial Tele MANAS helpline at 14416)
NOTE – This article was originally published in The Hindu and can be viewed here
