WB: Potato Farmers Demand MSP

Announce Minimum Support Price for potato to be Rs 900 per quintal
Blockade-protest across Cooch Behar, West Bengal, district on this demand

Like last year, potato farmers are facing losses. Potato is one of the most profitable crops in Cooch Behar district, approximately 30 thousand hectares are used for potato cultivation in the district.

Unbridled increase in fertilizer prices and black marketeering of kerosene oil prices as well as increase in costs of irrigating the field have increased the cost of production for farmers multifold.

But now the new potato farmer’s land is selling at Rs 190/200 a bag. If this continues, the potato farmers will face huge losses, many farmers have cultivated potatoes with loans, many have taken money from bonds.

AIKS Cooch Behar district committee firmly believes that in order to save the farmers, the government should purchase the potatoes at a minimum of Rs 900 per quintal and at the same time arrange to store the potatoes of the real farmers in the warehouse, and arrange for the export of the surplus potatoes to other states/countries.