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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | In season of high prices, farmer kills himself for fear of poor returns

In season of high prices, farmer kills himself for fear of poor returns

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published Published on Nov 7, 2011   modified Modified on Nov 7, 2011
-The Telegraph
 
A debt-ridden farmer killed himself in Burdwan last evening after complaining of poor prices for his produce — a seemingly incongruous reality in the middle of a countrywide uproar over rising prices.

Madhab Ghosh, 62, perhaps the first farmer whose suicide has been reported since the Mamata Banerjee government took over in May, drank pesticide around 6pm at his home at Jatka village in Raina, Burdwan.

Madhab cultivated seven bighas or over 2 acres, an average holding but not small enough to drive him to suicide.

However, he found accumulated debts of Rs 70,000 too crushing to bear, possibly because the prices he was being offered for the produce — rice and potatoes — were not enough to sustain his family and repay his dues.

If middlemen were standing between Madhab and the market where prices are skyrocketing, he got caught in a pincer attack from the other flank where fertiliser black marketeers were seeking their pound of flesh.

Earlier in the day, Madhab had gone to buy fertiliser for his next potato crop after harvesting rice, his nephew Hiranmoy said.

“While having lunch, he told his wife, ‘this time the black market rates of fertilisers will not let me cultivate potatoes. I already have 300 sacks of potatoes from last year in the cold storage which I have not sold because the price is too low’,” said Hiranmoy.

“He (Madhab) also told his wife that he feared he would not get the official price of Rs 1,080 per quintal for the 75 bags of rice (about 45 quintals) he wished to sell. He also had fears that the fertiliser he would require for the forthcoming aus (winter) crop will cost a minimum of Rs 1,500. He didn’t have that kind of money. My uncle had Rs 70,000 in debt for he had borrowed from moneylenders to cultivate his land,” said Hiranmoy.

After Madhab went into a room, wife Minoti and son Manoj heard the sound of vomiting. They opened the door and saw Madhab lying on the ground, foaming at the mouth. A pesticide bottle lay near him.

District food and supplies controller Raju Mukherjee said rice mill owners were supposed to pay farmers Rs 1,080 per quintal.

But another district official said many of the around 400 rice mills in Burdwan bought rice from middlemen.

Banamali Ghosh, a farmer of Hijalna village, 2km from Jakta, echoed the official. “We sell rice to middlemen since they buy directly from our doorstep. It saves us a lot of trouble. We know that we are getting less,” she said.

Food and supplies minister Jyotipriya Mullick said his department would ensure that middlemen did not come between farmers and mills.


The Telegraph, 7 November, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111108/jsp/bengal/story_14721707.jsp


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