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August 14, 2017

Women farmers carve suicide free zones

A subtle revolution led by a women's collective is heralding a change in villages of southern India's Telangana state.

Some 5,000 Dalit women, from castes once considered "untouchable" in India's now outlawed caste system, are implementing ecologically safe practices that have effectively rendered areas they farm in as "suicide free zones."

More than 300,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide since 1995 as they found no other way to escape from a crippling debt trap due to continuous farm failures.

However, the women from the state's Medak district are showing the way to fight farm failures by avoiding expensive seeds and pesticides using climate-resilient, bio diverse farming practices.

(Photos and text by Tejaswi Dantuluri) 

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UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia