Sir — Recent reports on farmers’ suicides across the country is depressing. The cause in all these cases is reported to be failure to get adequate price for their produce. A majority of the farmers in the country are forced to sell their produce less than the minimum support price fixed by the Government. When the Government is not able to purchase their products, in frustration, the farmers sell them off to the middlemen, who exploit them as they don’t understand the system of profits.
Second, in spite of the use of sufficient insecticide, crops fail. To overcome this problem two urgent measures need to be taken. One, the middlemen must be orderes to not buy the crops of the farmers less than the Minimum Support Price and if they do, they should be punished. Second, there should be competent scientists who must visit the farms, test the pests and suggest the farmers with the right kind of insecticide that works and if they fail to do so, the farmers money should be reimbursed so that the cost of the is recovered.