Pasha Patel, has alleged that the rise in farmers’ suicides over the last five years is due to the “faulty” policies of the erstwhile Congress-led government in the state.

Mumbai: The chairman of the Maharashtra Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), Pasha Patel, has alleged that the rise in farmers’ suicides over the last five years is due to the “faulty” policies of the erstwhile Congress-led government in the state.

“Since the last 70 years, Congress governments have destroyed the agriculture sector in the country. Due to this, there has been an increase in farmers’ suicides. However, the BJP has undertaken several measures to address this problem and the condition of farmers will improve from now on,” said Mr Patel.

“The BJP has also prepared an export policy for agriculture products. Earlier, the agriculture export from India used to be some 30 million USD. But after the BJP came to power in 2014, it has gone up to 100 million USD,” he said.

Mr Patel said that the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections will revolve round agriculture issues. “The Modi government has assured production cost and 50 per cent profit to the farmers in this year’s budget. For the first time, the price of sugar was fixed at Rs 31,” he said.