A bountiful harvest of potatoes in Bengal turned out to be a problem for farmers, who are rattled by falling demands and plummeting prices for their produce.
Traders refuse to buy potatoes that are already flooding the market and would only buy them for throwaway prices, leaving farmers under deeper debts and the prospect of suicide.
On Tuesday, 37-year-old Swapan Kundu from Khanakul village of Hooghly district committed suicide, panicked by the debts he piled paying high prices for seeds and fertilizers.
His family and friends are stunned to realise that the higher yield of potato on his two-acre land has actually driven him to take his life.
“We are selling potatoes to traders and whole-sellers for Rs 2-3 per Kg. Most traders are not buying potatoes so we’re not getting good price,” Kundu’s brother-in-law Arup said.
Published 10 March 2015, 19:55 IST