Bengal Potato Farmers Make A Killing On Lower Output

As weather turns unfavourable, output falls sharply and prices shoot up

- Shobha Roy

Lufthar Rahaman, a 46-year-old potato farmer from Gurap village in Hooghly district, approximately 65 km from Kolkata, is fetching around four times more on his potatoes this year on the back of anticipated fall in production.

Rahaman is earning nearly ₹520 for a bag of potatoes (one bag contains 60 kg) this year, compared with ₹120130 a bag same period last year. Productivity is down by around 29 per cent on account of unfavourable weather conditions.

“This year I have been able to harvest only around 70-80 bags on every bigha (approximately 0.4 acre) of land as compared to 90-100 bags a bigha during usual years. For some farmers, the productivity is still lower at around 50-60 bags/bigha. This has helped prices to firm up,” Rahaman told BusinessLine.

Rahaman owns close to four bighas of land in Gurap.