India's agricultural troubles

Nearly every college student today knows a little something about being in debt. Some students might only end up a couple thousand dollars in debt, while others may end up paying back a hundred thousand dollars or more by the time they graduate. We brush off this small debt like nothing, planning to pay the debt back over perhaps the next ten years. While paying back the loans for school, most will end up further in debt when they go to buy a house. It seems to be a big circle of borrowing money and paying it back.

Now consider people in other countries who borrow money. Take a look at the farmers of India (article), who borrow money to plant their crops and pray that the crop yields enough profit to pay back their loans (and sometimes 5% interest per month). Thats right, 5% per month for some of them. According to the article in NY Times, the average farmers' debt was $835. That is about what we pay for one credit at Virginia Wesleyan College. To us $835 is nothing, but to these farmers this debt is worth commiting suicide over. In 2003, there were more than 17,000 farmers who committed suicide.

The pressure of the farmers is finally forcing the Indian government to act. Part of the problem is also the insanely high interest rates that the private moneylenders are charging the farmers, which will hopefully end soon after the government steps in. They will begin by waiving the interest on current loans and by partly controlling what the private lenders can do.

I just find it intriguing that the average debt is only $835 and people are having trouble paying it back. My debt will be more than 40 times that amount when I'm finished taking loans out for school. This just shows how different the economies are, and how poor the agricultural economy is right now in India.