Farmers across west Wales are at risk

Farmers in west Wales are being targeted amid fears they are more likely to contemplate suicide than workers in almost any other industry.

Financial pressures, long hours, loneliness and increased paper work are factors that are driving farmers to the edge, according to their unions.

Now volunteers from the Samaritans have started visiting agricultural markets, young farmers' clubs and colleges to offer help and support.

Tim, a volunteer at the charity's Swansea office, said the organisation had started making monthly visits to Carmarthen mart.

Farming is often a lonely existence and regrettably there is access to guns, poisons and the like through their every day lives Peter Davies

"We also go to young farmers' clubs and colleges and give a general chat and let them know they can telephone us," he said.

"Farming can be a lonely occupation.

"Also many men, not just farmers, have this macho outlook so don't cry and don't share their emotions with other people.

"There are financial problems in farming, especially in this area, as well as recent fears over foot-and-mouth.

"We are taking a much higher profile and have had quite a few inquiries - it is bearing fruit," he added.

Research carried out by the University of Wales in Cardiff has found farmers in England are more than twice as likely to contemplate suicide compared with the general population.

Carmarthenshire executive officer for the Farmers Union of Wales, Peter Davies, said he was sure the situation was similar in west Wales.

Samaritans offer a counselling service

"Given the financial situation of the industry and the pressure on farmers to keep their farms in the family they are under tremendous pressure," he said.

"Farming is often a lonely existence and regrettably there is access to guns, poisons and the like through their every day lives.

"One thing I hear a lot is the intense frustration at the increasing level of red tape," he added.

The study, in the Journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, looked at 425 farmers from Hereford, Norwich and Preston.

It showed most farmers were male, worked full time, were typically aged 51 and had been in their current job for 16 years or more.

Foot-and-mouth

The researchers, led by Dr Hollie Thomas, at the University of Wales College of Medicine, said the relationship between depression and suicide among farmers seemed very different to that in the wider population.

This may be because farmers are reluctant to admit to mental health problems.

The authors said witnessing the livestock during the foot-and-mouth crisis could encourage farmers to take a more fatalistic view of their own life.

They called for more research to be conducted among farmers in the aftermath of the recent crisis.