Farmers in West Bengal’s Singur district have been forced to throw their potato harvest onto roadsides after a record-breaking glut caused market prices to collapse. The selling price has dropped to as low as 3–8 rupees per kilogram, which falls significantly below the production cost. As a result, piles of rotting potatoes now litter the ground, and growers are desperately discarding the surplus stock that no longer offers any financial return.
Local farmer Pradip Das explained that high yields have paradoxically destroyed profitability. Cultivating potatoes costs approximately 20,000 rupees per bigha, but farmers are receiving only 16,000 to 18,000 rupees in return. He added that the inability to ship produce outside the state is severely affecting prices, trapping farmers in a local market that cannot absorb the excess supply.
