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Economics4h 10m ago

A field study in Maharashtra exposes that sugarcane owner-cultivators work an average of 10.97 hours daily on limited sleep, experiencing severe pain and lacking clean drinking water, leading to chronic dehydration and zero daily protein intake for 85.3% of them.

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Maharashtra, India

Who
farmers, NITI Aayog, Maharashtra Agriculture Price Commission
What
A field study in Maharashtra exposes that sugarcane owner-cultivators work an average of 10.97 hours daily on limited sleep, experiencing severe pain and lacking clean drinking water, leading to chronic dehydration and zero daily protein intake for 85.3% of them.
When
Sun, 14 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT · 4h 10m ago
Where
Maharashtra, India ·
Why
This situation, termed 'human mining,' extracts agricultural GDP by permanently depleting the biological infrastructure that grows it, where farmers physically destroy their bodies for higher immediate income.
The Frontline Impact

How this affects you

The depreciation of farmer's health capital causes significant out-of-pocket medical costs for farmers, predatory debt leading to land liquidation, severe public hospital congestion, and locked wealth due to direct yield drops from illness. Implementing a bioeconomy policy by NITI Aayog is suggested to protect the agricultural workforce and India's food security.

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