Bhubaneswar: The Naveen Patnaik government on Wednesday told the Assembly that not a single farmer had committed suicide in the state due to crop loss in the last two years.

The 18 farmers who committed suicide during this period had done so due to "misunderstanding among family members" and "psychological stress", agriculture minister Damodar Rout said in a written reply to a question by Congress MLA Bhujbal Majhi.

The reply comes at a time when political parties and peasant organisations are criticising the government for suicide of farmers following crop loss due to pest attack and incessant rain.

The family of farmer Hadu Bagarti, who committed suicide on February 27, 2017, refuted the minister's statement.

"My father had committed suicide due to crop failure. How can the state government make such a statement," said Ananta Bagarti, son of Hadu.

BJP MLA Pradeep Purohit and his Congress colleague Tara Prasad Bahinipati attacked the government for refusing to accept the death of farmers due to crop loss.

"What prevented them from admitting farmers' death? The state government should immediately set up a judicial probe to ascertain the reasons for farmer suicides," said Purohit.

Bahinipati said: "The state government is shedding crocodile tears for farmers. They are not interested in addressing farmers' issues."