The hike in fuel prices and labour costs have made farming a costly affair, farmers in Maharashtra's Aurangabad claim. Under current circumstances, cultivators have started adopting alternative techniques to cut down the expenses, they said. Machinery used in farming runs on fuel and many a times cultivators have to rent the equipment.

Talking to PTI, Bhagwan Bongane, a farmer who is pursuing BSc Agriculture, said, "I own a tractor. A tractor requires six litres of diesel to plough one acre of land. Earlier, this used to cost me Rs 400. But now, the price has gone up to nearly Rs 650."