SCOTTISH LABOUR has called for targeted mental health support in rural areas, as new data indicates a worrying increase in suicides of agricultural workers. 

Speaking in Holyrood on Thursday afternoon, shadow cabinet secretary for rural economy Colin Smyth called on the Scottish government to assess the mental health services offered in rural areas.  

New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that 123 agricultural workers across Britain, 21 from Scotland, took their lives in 2019.

Mr Smyth said: “Given that the pandemic — and the measures to control it — have exacerbated the problems of isolation and access to services in rural communities, more mental health service provision is essential. 

“Our farmers and the wider sector have worked hard to keep food on our tables during the pandemic and have dealt with a huge amount of stress and pressure related to Brexit.

“The Scottish government must now work to provide better, targeted mental health support, focusing on prevention and early identification of the risks associated with working in agriculture.” 

A recent study by the Farm Safety Foundation found that 88 per cent of farmers under the age of 40 now rank poor mental health as the biggest hidden problem facing farmers today.  

A report published in February by Support in Mind Scotland (SiMS) also found that of 84 participants in marginalised rural communities, 93 per cent felt that Covid-19 has affected their mental health and wellbeing. 

The SiMS report identified the leading contributors of respondents’ poor mental health as rural infrastructure issues, increased isolation during Covid-19 and barriers in accessing local support. 

SiMS researchers Fiona Thompson and Benedict Lejac wrote: “While recognising the breadth of infrastructure investment, ongoing challenges of isolation and poor mental health are the cost of lack of investment.

“Survey respondents have indicated the critical importance of micro-level, ‘hyper-local’ support to enable mental health and wellbeing.”

While third sector and farming support organisations provide expert mental health services, the Scottish government needs to implement better services into policy, they added.

“In order to continue to be effective, third sector expertise must be recognised and built into policy development, with resources allocated to support marginalised individuals and groups where they are, in a preventative approach to reduced costs on the statutory system,” they said.