While instances of distressed farmers setting their pest-infested crops ablaze are spreading like wildfire in the State, one more distressed farmer died in Dhenkanal district on Friday.
The farmer of lembupala village under Kamakhyanagar block Basu Hembram committed suicide by consuming poison allegedly over crop loss.
He had been rushed to the Kamakhyanagar hospital and later shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) after his condition deteriorated, but he succumbed to the effects of the poison.
His family members alleged that crop loss and debt burden forced him to take the extreme step. He had taken hand loans, and due to the crop loss he was in distress.
In another incidence, disturbed over damages to crops due to pest attack, a woman farmer attempted suicide on Thursday night by consuming poison at Gojadihara village in the Soro area of Baleswar district.
The condition of the woman, identified as Saraswati Patra, became critical after consuming poison and was rushed to the Soro Community Health Centre (CHC) by locals.
She was in distress after her paddy crop was damaged due to repeated pest attacks. Apart from this, a loan of Rs 30,000 which she had taken for cultivation purposes added to her burden.