The BJP on Tuesday demanded remunerative price for farmers for their produce like paddy to check the rising cases of suicide among them in the State. The party leaders demanded that the State Government pay Rs 500 per quintal as bonus on the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy.
The BJP leaders said that farmer suicide cases are on the rise in the State due to lack of agricultural infrastructure and irrigation facility, delay in supply of seeds and fertilisers and inability to repay the loans from different sources. If the Government wants Odisha as a farmer suicide-free State, it should take complete responsibility of proper marketing of agricultural produce by offering a good amount of bonus on the MSP, they added.
The farmers bring their paddy to sell in the Mandis and keep all their packets on open ground due to lack of godowns. During rains, the paddy becomes wet and is washed away like what happened recently in Kalahandi during the rains, they pointed out.
The party leaders said the BJD Government has distributed mobile phones to less than one per cent of the farmers. Without solving the farmers’ core issues like irrigation facility, post-harvest management, remunerative prices for produces, market yards, timely supply of proper seeds and fertilisers, launching of Digital Mandis and distribution of mobile phones only creates confusion in the minds of the people, the leaders alleged.
The party demanded Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the families of the farmer who committed suicide and compensate the farmers of south and western Odisha who lost their crop during low pressure rain.