Anyone familiar with the farmer suicide crisis in India will know the place Warangal. Located in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, Warangal is considered the epicenter of the farmer suicide crisis. It is here that the farmer suicides by the hundreds were first recorded in 1998.

Finally some good news to report: Marks & Spencer, UK based retailer will continue to invest in the ‘Better Cotton’ Initiative for the next three and a half years. Their press release says the investment will extend to 20,000 farmers in Warangal.

M&S will now continue to fund the project for the next three and a half years to extend the project to 20,000 farmers. It is a joint venture between M&S and WWF. Results from last year include:

• 51 per cent less water use;
• 81 per cent less pesticide ‘active ingredient’ use;
• 53 per cent less synthetic fertiliser use.

Why should we care?

India is currently the 2nd largest producer of cotton in the world (China is #1). And, cotton is a water hog – It can take more than 20,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of cotton; equivalent to a single T-shirt and pair of jeans.