Mysore, May 22 (UNI) Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices chairman T Haque today underlined the need for an integrated and comprehensive agriculture policy in the country to help farmers.

Addressing mediapersons here, he said farmers facing severe problems were unable to compete globally and successive Union Governments had not made any effort to redress their grievances.

Stating that food production in the country since 1996 was a poor .004 per cent whereas the population was growing at the rate of 1.7 per cent every year, he said the Government had been importing 3.5 million tonnes of wheat.

All the investments in the field of agriculture had been completely stopped, including private investments in the sector, he added.

Mr Haque said more than 5,000 farmers had committed suicide as they were unable to repay their loans. Various state governments proposed to provide loans to ryots at reduced interest rates, but it was not the solution to the problem, he added.

He said the Commission had been making efforts to provide support price for agricultural produce, including commercial crops. A study had been initiated and once the data was available from various states, the same would be submitted to the Union Government for necessary action, he added.

Though fixing prices and cost of operations varied from State to State, the Commission would submit its report balancing the facts, he added.

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