Suicides up after cotton-crop fails

Officials in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh say that so far 42 farmers have committed suicide because of the debts they face over the failure of the cotton crop in the region.

The Relief Commissioner A K Tegdi said five died on Tuesday alone.

The Andhra Pradesh chief minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, has announced compensation measures for the cotton crop failure.

Officials said that lack of rainfall and pest infestations had damaged crops on nearly three hundred thouasand acres of land.

They said the worst area affected was Warangal district, where 22 deaths had been reported.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service