This is interesting information. I am from India and actually in the look out of crops for our land. Traditional crops are failing due various reasons like diseases and change in rain (climate change) and newer crops are required to sustain.
On the farmer suicides, its a reality and it doesn't happen by consuming pesticides by mistake or so. The major reason is the farmers who rely on short term crops like cotton comes under pressure if one season of their crop fails. Since there will not be any alternate income available to run the day to day life ( operational expenses in the business world) or income / money to invest in new crops ie for next harvest season, they end up in tough situations.
@doitvoluntarily I checked about hemp in India .. it seems there are few initiatives. For example : http://iihaindia.org/about-iiha/
Hemp looks similar to medical cannabis and I think the similarity in how it looks is going to be trouble in the South Indian states and it may attract legal trouble! (Though its funny to note that the cannabis from certain south Indian region is assumed to be the best in the world!)