West Bengal’s Potato Farmers Stare at Huge Losses Despite Good Harvest

Kolkata: Potato growers in West Bengal say they are facing losses of more than Rs 7,000 per bigha of land as market prices of the crop have dropped.

“We have done our duty as farmers. We tilled the land, and in a conducive atmosphere this year, the productivity is supposed to be good. However, as the potato price per 50 kg bag is now at Rs 250, even our production cost will not be recovered at this rate,” Bijan Ghosh (67) said while talking with NewsClick.

Ghosh had tilled his nine bighas with a loan from the local branch of Paschimbanga Grameen Bank; his total loan stands at Rs 1.5 lakh. He also roped in savings for harvesting the lands this time. However, he is upset as the time to take home his produce is nearing within 15 days, and the market prices are hovering at around Rs 250 per 50 kg.

Last year’s produce in the cold storage is still not out, he rued, and the market price of potatoes in the state has fallen to Rs 10 per kilogramme. After the share of middlemen and carriage costs, the farmer is able to get only Rs 2.5 for each kilo of potatoes sold in the open market.

Ghosh, who stays at Jamalpur block’s Chargopalpur village in Burdwan district, expects that 75 bags of potatoes will be harvested from his land this time. He has cultivated the Jyoti variety of potatoes from Punjabi potato seeds.

A sizeable portion of the potatoes cannot be stacked into the cold storage as moneylenders have paid for fertiliser and seeds. Once the potatoes are in the open market, the money lenders will take control of the potato at low prices and stack them in cold storage, Ghosh said. This will put the farmers’ interests at risk. Moreover, in place of the average 80 lakh tonnes, about 120 lakh tonnes of potatoes will be produced this year in the state, according to estimates. But, the cold storages still have last year's produce, creating a problem of surplus.

The moneylenders have established an organisation called the Progressive Aloo Byabsayee Samity (Progressive Potato Merchants Association), which is affiliated with the ruling Trinamool Congress. According to Ghosh, money lenders act as middlemen in the trade and allegedly create an informal system in every village whereby farmers have no option but to buy Punjabi seeds at a high premium value from them along with fertilisers to create a kind of monopoly. The rate of the seeds they sell differs considerably from the open market price, and then they force the farmers to distress sell their produce. The farmers are, therefore, demanding a minimum support price for their crop.

For each bigha of land, a farmer has to invest Rs 28,000 as production cost, including electricity, diesel, fertilisers and seeds.

"To the government our demand is to announce the minimum support price which will enable us to sustain our livelihood," said Ghosh.

The agricultural produce market in the state is subject to substantial price variations and volatility. Hence, potato farmers are often forced to sell their produce here at Rs 1 or 2 per kilo, which is then dumped in cold storages by middlemen who reap a profit when the prices rise. Thus, farmers are resigned to losses despite a good harvest this year. 

Speaking with NewsClick, farmer Tapan Porel, who doubles up as an agricultural labourer when he is not farming on his own land, said he had sown potatoes in four bighas after taking a loan of Rs 80,000 from the Bhanjipur Samabay Samity. The resident of Bhanjipur village in Tarakeshwar block of Hooghly district is aiming to get a per bigha profit of Rs 5,000; for this, he has to sell the produce of each bigha at Rs 33,000 to Rs 35,000 which will enable him to survive. As an agricultural labourer, he only earns about Rs 250 to 300 daily, that too for uncertain periods. 

Samar Ghosh, secretary of Burdwan unit of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), told NewsClick that the organisation has demanded thatcRs 900 be paid as the minimum support price (MSP) for each quintal of produce in the cold storage.

They also demanded that real potato farmers should get preferential treatment in storing their produce to stop the distress sale of potatoes, and the government should buy potatoes at the stipulated price from them so that they do not fall into the trap of middlemen. In the interest of the farmers, the additional production of potatoes should be allowed to be exported to other states, and the potato snack-oriented industry should be established in West Bengal.

Speaking with NewsClick, Pradip Majumdar, Minister in Charge of the state agricultural department, said that one has to wait and see the ramifications of potato production this year. Last year, he alleged that businessmen and traders imported a lot of potatoes from Uttar Pradesh, thinking they could earn an extra profit if the potato price hits the eye. "This year, the whole process is staring at losses," he said, adding that if there is distress sale by the farmers, the government will step into the matter. 

However, if that happens, it will be the first time in recent years that the TMC-led government stepped in to save potato farmers. Earlier, the erstwhile Left Front government had stepped in twice, allotting Rs 400 crore and Rs 600 crore to directly purchase potatoes from the farmers, according to Amal Halder, secretary of AIKS West Bengal state committee.

There are three ways for potatoes to make their way into the market. A portion of the produce is stored by the farmers, another portion by the middlemen, and yet another by the cold storage owners who buy the potatoes at Rs 300 per 50 kg from the farmers. The cold storage owners release batches of the produce depending on market conditions.

West Bengal is one of the largest potato-growing states in the country. Hooghly district is the hub of potato production in the state and contributes over 40% of the total potato cultivation in the state. The district is known for its high-quality Chandramukhi variety. Over 60,000 farmers from the district are dependent on potato cultivation to make ends meet.