Toxic tuber: Bengal farm suicide toll rises to 16

Sixteen-year-old Jayanta Roy of Ullora village in Burdwan district, some 100-km off Kolkata, finds it hard to reconcile to his father death.

Ajit, his father, committed suicide by jumping in front of a train earlier this week. He was depressed as a bumper crop triggered a crash in potato prices to a record low. The loss was too heavy and Ajit found him deep in debt.

This isn’t a one-off case in West Bengal. Reports appearing in vernacular media suggest at least 16 farmers committed suicide in last one month, since harvesting of potato crop began.

Bengal, this year, produced 15 per cent more potatoes at 110 lakh tonnes.

Over production coupled with reduced demand from neighbouring States pulled its prices down.

While, average prices at the cold storage end were down by 40 per cent, the impact was heavier at farm end.

Ajit cultivated on 1.66 acres of land, mostly taken on lease. He produced 200-odd quintals and expected a break-even price of around ₹500 a quintal.

But as the harvest began, prices dropped to ₹240-260 a quintal.

Ajit, however, was relatively better placed than many such as Ganesh Soren, who committed suicide on March 17.

A first time potato-farmer from Mohanpur village in the Golshi sub-division of Burdwan, Ganesh was offered a mere ₹180 a quintal by middlemen who stock potatoes at cold storages for further trade.

He was attracted to potato farming by the windfall profit his neighbours earned last year, when potato prices were firm at ₹700-800 during the cropping season.

Ganesh took on lease an acre of land and had borrowed from the local money-lender at five per cent monthly interest (60 per cent per annum). He ended up taking his life by consuming pesticide. Farmers blame middlemen for taking advantage of a bumper crop to pull prices much lower than expected.

“We expected a drop in prices this year due to higher production and were ready to make handsome profit riding on volume sales. We didn’t expect it to go 50 per cent below the production cost,” said Mukta Mal, of Ullora village.

The credit for the disaster goes to potato trade.

Citing over production, middlemen (who procure directly from farmers) quoted lower prices. Rumours spread that there were not enough space in the cold storages. This affected farmers’ sentiments.

With apprehensions over the storage capacity and absence of wherewithal to carry their stock directly (to cold storages), most farmers had to take a call. This led to disposing of potatoes at exorbitantly low prices.

The State government, however, has so far denied these reports as instances of farm suicides.

“We are yet to receive all the reports from the district administration,” Purnendu Basu, State Agriculture Minister, told BusinessLine .

The announcement of transport subsidy and procurement by the State has indeed seen a price stabilisation of sorts. According to Basu, these schemes will soon be reviewed.

“Post our procurement directly from farmers, there has been a stabilisation in prices,” he said.

Potato prices are, currently, ruling at around ₹400 a quintal.