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Even as the ruling TMC government in West Bengal has won the electoral mandate in municipal elections, huge losses from farming this year posses challenges to the state government ahead of the assembly elections.
The West Bengal government is also looking at farm waiver for potato farmers. This year, against the cost of production at Rs 500 per quintal (including storage cost) of potato, farmers could get only Rs 350-360 per quintal from field level sale.
"The chief minister has already written the Centre, demanding a loan waiver for potato farmers. At the cooperative level, we are trying to find out ways to reduce the debt burden of farmers. Farmers in West Bengal need to diversify their crops, so that there is no distress sale," said Arup Roy, Minister for agricultural marketing, West Bengal.
This year, in the Kharif season, nearly 140-150 lakh tonne of paddy was grown, according to Pranab Chatterjee, professor at Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV). However, with Bangladesh refusing to buy rice from West Bengal, farmers have been sitting on huge unsold crop. In addition, rice harvesting for the Boro season has already begun, and prices are further tumbling down. This will add nearly 75 lakh tonne of paddy to already unsold stock.
Kharif paddy prices fell from nearly Rs 900-1,000 per bag (60kg) in December to nearly Rs 650-700 per bag at present due to low demand. In addition, with the Boro crop partially damaged, farmers are not getting more than Rs 450 per 60 kg bag for the new crop. The cost of production of 60 kg paddy is close to Rs 500, which includes the cost of transportation.
"This year, farmers suffered twin losses, both in paddy and potato. This has led to unprecedented loss for the farmers," said Ramprasad Ghoshal, farmer, Bamanpara Village, Burdwan.
Generally Bangladesh buys nearly 40 lakh tonne of rice from West Bengal every year.
"This year, Bangladesh has not purchased much as they have become self-sufficient. Also, the rice variety from other states is much superior to that of West Bengal, which has led to an almost stagnation in demand," said Chatterjee.
The West Bengal government had earlier decided to provide railway freight subsidy of Rs 50/quintal for potato shipment from south Bengal, and Rs 100 / quintal from that in north Bengal. This apart, the state also extended a transport subsidy of Rs 100/ quintal for potatoes sent via water transport to neighbouring countries.
