In recent years, one observes an increasing incidence of farmers' suicides. A relatively higher suicide among farmers is indicative of a larger malaise in agriculture. There are twin dimensions to this crisis in agriculture: an agrarian crisis which threatens the livelihood of those dependent on agriculture, particularly the small and marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers; and an agricultural development crisis that manifest through a deceleration of productivity and declining profitability which can be attributed to the neglect in the designing of programmes and in the allocation of resources towards agriculture.