Nearly half the farmer households in India, with a high percentage of them in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Punjab, are facing the burden of loans, according to a report.

A total of 43.42 million farmer households constituting 48.6 per cent are reported to be indebted to either formal or informal or both sources of credit, as per the report on the ‘Indebtedness of Farmer Households' (NSSO report 498 of NSS 59th Round).

The Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Harish Rawat, said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha yesterday that farmers take loan for the purpose of capital or current expenditure in farm business combined with successive crop failures.

Besides, he said, they have to take loans for meeting requirements related to health, marriages and other social obligations.

Giving State-wise break-up from the report, Mr Rawat said the maximum percentage is in Andhra Pradesh (82 per cent). It is followed by Tamil Nadu (74.5 per cent), Punjab (65.4 per cent), Kerala (64.4 per cent) and Karnataka (61.6 per cent).

Other States with high percentage of indebted farmers include Maharashtra (54.8 per cent), Haryana (53.1 per cent), Rajasthan (52.4 per cent), Gujarat (51.9 per cent) and West Bengal (50.1 per cent).

Highly populated States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand had lower percentage at 40.3 per cent, 33 per cent and 20.9 per cent respectively.

It has been widely reported recently that loan burden, particularly at high rate of interest from private lenders, has been a major reason driving farmers to suicide in different parts of the country.

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