BALLARI (KARNATAKA): Chief minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that twenty-five farmers have committed suicide in Karnataka since last month.

Eight of the farmers were debt-ridden sugarcane growers while others committed suicide for different reasons, he told reporters here.

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Assuring the farmers that the government was with them, the chief minister appealed to not take such extreme step in future.

Siddaramaiah also said the government would take action against private money lenders, who fleece the farmers.

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A spate of farmers' suicides in recent weeks had brought the agrarian crisis, particularly relating to sugarcane growers, to the fore.

The payment of dues to sugarcane farmers by mill owners had also rocked both the house of legislature, now in session at Belagavi.