Kolkata, Jan 22 (IANS) The almost daily reports of farmer suicides are the latest political flashpoint in West Bengal. While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee says the suicides are not linked to farm debtsboth the opposition and estranged ally Congress are attacking her government for the deaths.

According to the Congress, whose ties with the ruling Trinamool have sunk to new low, and the Left Front, 25 farmers have taken their own lives in the first eight months of the Mamata Banerjee government.

Most suicides - at least 17 - have occurred in the fertile Burdwan district, earlier known as the rice bowl of Bengal for its paddy harvest. Suicides have also occurred in Bankura, Hooghly, Malda and Jalpaiguri.

Mostly victims have been paddy farmers. Potato cultivators including share croppers and agricultural labourers have also committed suicide.

“One reason could be the confusion about the government’s decision to pay the support price to farmers’ bank accounts. Many farmers are not conversant with bank transactions and so are having problems even opening accounts,” said renowned economist Dipankar Dasgupta.

More importantly, the Trinamool regime has so far fallen much short of its paddy procurement target of 20 lakh tones, with food ministry sources putting the figure at 2 lakh tonnes.

To make matters worse, the state has had a bumper paddy production of 150 lakh tonnes this year, up from 130 lakh tonnes a year ago.

“The minimum support price has been fixed by the central government at Rs.1,080 a quintal. The minimum support price sets the bottomline to the market rate or in other words the MSP gives support to the market price. But the government’s failure to go anywhere near its paddy procurement target has spelt doom,” Dasgupta told IANS.

“With the government’s failure to buy substantial amounts of paddy, the middlemen who sell the paddy to the rice mills are having a field day. The bumper production has only added to the farmers’ woes.

“The market prices have fallen to Rs.600 a quintal, forcing the farmers who had taken loans for the paddy cultivation to go for distress sale at low prices,” he said.

Left Front leaders have pointed out that in 2010-11, when they were in power, the total procurement by the government was 16 lakh tonnes.

According to the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the procurement was done largely through self-help groups with the Panchayats coming into the picture. As a result, traders were forced to pay the minimum support price.

The Trinamool government has asked the National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India, Essential Commodities Supply Corp, Benfed and Confed to procure the paddy at the MSP.

But the plan has come unstuck with the government not releasing the funds, allege the Marxists.

Added to that, the rise in input prices - fertilizers, insecticides - which have doubled in some cases, increased the capital cost of farmers.

“When he sows he has to take loans. He does not have that much cash to buy seeds. And when he sells at such low prices, he is unable to repay the loans. He is getting badgered from all sides.” Dasgupta said.

Mamata Banerjee has pooh poohed the accusations saying no farmer killed himself due to any farm debt burden.

“They had personal problems, family issues, they had huge personal loans, running into even a crore. And some of those being mentioned have died of disease, and not committed suicide.”