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Economics4h 15m ago

A field study in Maharashtra exposes that sugarcane owner-cultivators work 10.97 hours a day on 5.23 hours of sleep and experience severe back and joint pain.

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Maharashtra, India

Who
Member Maharashtra Agriculture Price Commission, farmers, NITI Aayog
What
A field study in Maharashtra exposes that sugarcane owner-cultivators work 10.97 hours a day on 5.23 hours of sleep and experience severe back and joint pain.
When
Sun, 14 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT · 4h 15m ago
Where
Maharashtra, India ·
Why
The study suggests that farmer health directly impacts India's economic stability and food security, with farmers experiencing a "revenue-pain paradox" where higher income is linked to physical deterioration.
The Frontline Impact

How this affects you

Farmer health capital depreciation leads to significant economic drains for individual farmers and the state, including substantial medical costs, predatory debt, public hospital congestion, and locked wealth due to yield drops from illness. Implementing a bioeconomy policy framework could transform public health spending into a high-yielding infrastructure investment and protect India's food security.

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