After potato glut, capsicum rots in field, prompts MSP aid
Times of India | 3 April 2025
1234 Chinsurah: Capsicum prices in Kolkata that is hovering around Rs 60 per kg could dip to Rs 30-40 a kg next week with the govt deciding to procure the vegetable from farmers following a production glut in rural Bengal that has seen wholesale prices tank. The govt's intervention, a rare instance of the govt announcing a minimum support price (MSP) for a vegetable, comes after wholesale prices of capsicum crashed from Rs 15-20 per kg in Jan-Feb to Rs 5-7 per kg in March-April.
The govt usually announces MSP for paddy and potato when there is distress sale. Following discussions with chief minister Mamata Banerjee, agriculture marketing minister Becharam Manna consulted Hooghly DM Mukta Arya and asked her to initiate a procurement plan. The latter entrusted the task to BDO Singur Souvik Ghoshal.
On Wednesday, while preparing the procurement list, Ghoshal informed TOI about plans to purchase capsicum from Polba-Dadpur and transport it to the Singur hub. According to the proposal, farmers will receive Rs 22 per kg for direct farm sales and Rs 24 per kg for hub sales via Sufal Bangla stalls, with distribution planned across Kolkata and other areas.
Arjun Das, a capsicum farmer from Polba, is glad the govt is stepping in to bail him and others out of this situation. "With wholesale prices crashing, we were facing acute loss and were not harvesting the crop as that would mean further loss," he said.
Following losses incurred by farmers engaged in traditional crops like paddy and potato, agriculture advisor to CM and current rural development minister Pradip Mazumdar in 2021 promoted diverse crops as substitute farming.
"Traditional paddy and potato cultivation was leading to financial losses for farmers, compelling the state govt to announce support prices as relief measures. Thus, substitute farming was suggested. The farmers were doing well. But this summer, there was a glut in production, leading to distress," said an agri official.
In Hooghly, the wholesale price of capsicum in Jan-Feb was Rs 12-14. But it nosedived to Rs 5-7 per kg in March. What compounded the problem was the rise in the cost of capsicum production in summer, where a polyhouse has to be installed for Rs 1.05-1.25 lakh per bigha.