Hooghly, 13 March (H.S.): Farmers lined up outside the agriculture department office in Haripal block of West Bengal’s Hooghly district on Friday as the administration began distributing tokens for procurement of potatoes under a state government scheme.

Under the arrangement, farmers will be able to store their potatoes in cold storages using the tokens, after which the state government will purchase the produce at a support price, officials said. However, the timeline for payment to farmers is yet to be specified.

Potato prices have remained low across the state this season, leaving farmers worried about their returns. In response, the state government has decided to procure potatoes from farmers at a support price of Rs 475 per 50-kg bag.

Farmers claimed that despite the open market price ranging between Rs 150 and Rs 220 per bag in some places, traders were reluctant to buy potatoes from cultivators.

According to the government’s plan, a maximum of 70 bags of potatoes will be procured from each farmer. Cultivators said uncertainty remains over the fate of the remaining produce.

Farmers said the cost of producing a bag of potatoes is around Rs 375, while harvesting, sorting, packing and transporting it to a cold storage adds another Rs 75, taking the total cost to about Rs 450 per bag.

At the current support price, farmers said they would earn only around Rs 25 per bag, which they claim is insufficient considering the investment made during the three-month cultivation period.

Several farmers have demanded an increase in the support price and some have already started protests over the issue, they added.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey