India: Bengal Farmers Sell Potatoes at ₹8 per kg on a Kolkata Street and Ask for a Floor Price of ₹1,200 per Quintal
Potato farmers in West Bengal sold their crop at ₹8 per kg in central Kolkata in protest against low prices. Nearly 10 crore sacks are still in cold stores, farm leaders say.
Potato farmers from several districts of West Bengal sold their crop on a Kolkata street on 28 September at ₹8 per kg. The sale was a protest against low prices. The farmers want the state to set a minimum price of ₹1,200 per quintal for potatoes.
The West Bengal chapter of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), a farmers’ alliance, organised a day-long sit-in on Rani Rashmoni Road near Esplanade. The protest ran from 10 am to 6 pm, with a public meeting at 2 pm. Farmers sold potatoes from open sacks directly to passers-by. The farm leaders announced the protest at a press conference in Kolkata on 26 September, the Bengali daily Bartaman reported.
A farmer from Tarakeswar in Hooghly district told ETV Bharat that a sack of potatoes now sells for only ₹150. According to him, growing potatoes on one bigha of land costs about ₹30,000. He said farmers would make some profit at about ₹500 per sack. The farmers brought 20 sacks from Hooghly to the protest site, and he said the whole stock was sold.
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An SKM convener said that the state has 510 cold storage facilities. According to the organisation’s data, about 6.5 crore sacks of potatoes left cold storage by 30 August. About 9.96 crore sacks were still in storage. The farmers fear that this stock will face problems if market demand does not rise.
The alliance has several demands. It wants the state government to buy potatoes directly from farmers, or to pay compensation if procurement is not possible. It wants the minimum support price for all farm crops, including paddy and jute, to be set at 1.5 times the production cost. For potatoes, it asks for a floor price of ₹1,200 per quintal. The farmers also demand a one-time waiver of farm loans and an end to the black market in fertilisers.
Farm leaders quoted by Bartaman said that an extra support payment promised in the state budget had been moved to next year. The newspaper also reported that the Chief Minister announced additional support prices for crops on 25 September.
Why it matters
Nearly 10 crore sacks of old-crop potatoes are still in cold stores in West Bengal, according to the farmers’ alliance, while farmers prepare to plant the next crop. The demand for ₹1,200 per quintal equals ₹12 per kg, or 50% more than the ₹8 per kg street price at the protest. The state’s reply on direct procurement and on the timing of support will shape planting decisions for the coming season.
Photo: Potatoes in a plastic sack in Kolkata, West Bengal (illustrative). Biswarup Ganguly / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
