India's farmers suicide epicenter reports over 600 suicides in 2012

India's farmer suicide epicenter of Vidarbha district in the western state of Maharashtra reported three more suicides on Sunday, adding the total number of suicides of farmers in the region to over 600, according to local media reports. Three more farmers committed suicide in Vidarbha district on the eve of Diwali or lights festival, taking the toll of farmers' suicide this year to 624, the Hindu newspaper said. The newspaper quoted Vidarbha Jana Andolan Samiti (VJAS), a social group working among farmers of Vidarbha, as saying the cultivation cost has almost doubled this year due to unusual rise in the prices of seeds, fertilizers and labor rate. The market prices of cash crops like cotton and soyabean are being traded much lower than that of last year at the same time, said the report. There is no intervention from the government for procurement of these crops as the Minimum Support Prices, forcing farmers to offload their crops at throw away prices resulting in heavy financial losses, according to the report. This took place after 60 farmers killed themselves in the Vidarbha in September after a massive pest attack ruined their crops.