ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a study of farmers’ suicides in Australia carried out based on a report on the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) mortality report around 2000. The objective of this study is to gather experience from another country with similar conditions leading to farmers’ suicides. Because Australia is an agriculture-dominant country with farmers’ suicides, its experience is a relevant case study to compare against India’s. I found not only that Australia has a high rate of rural suicides but also that in the remoter areas, the suicide rates are much higher and the incidence was higher among the Indigenous people. The major cause of farmers’ suicides in the Australian rural setup is considered to be depopulation and withdrawal of essential services from the rural areas. These processes have further caused social fragmentation and deprivation in an ageing population and a decline in the quality of life in the rural areas. It emerges from the study that Australia has taken such steps as improving rural health services by emphasizing strengthening mental health services, providing technological support to increase community understanding, effectively identifying at-risk individuals and providing them with the support they require and setting up special helplines. India needs to learn from Australia’s examples of certain corrective actions taken in order for India to effectively tackle its own farmer’s suicides situation.
