Potatoes are cultivated on a large scale in different areas of the Begusarai district.
Farmers in Bihar's Begusarai today expressed their displeasure against the government in a unique demonstration. The farmers of Bachhwara block of Begusarai district, who had been demanding that the government fix a minimum support price of potatoes so that they could sell their produce at a reasonable price, today threw hundreds of sacks of potatoes on NH-28 and raised slogans against the central and state governments.
Potatoes are cultivated on a large scale in different areas of the Begusarai district, but this time neither are the farmers finding traders, nor the cold storage owners are keeping the potatoes. The situation has worsened so much that the farmers are not even getting labourers to extract potatoes from the potato fields.
Frustrated farmers wrote to the state and district administrations several times, but claim they didn't hear back. They have demanded that the minimum support price of green vegetables and potatoes should be fixed on the lines of Kerala.
Farmers have said that earlier, compensation for crop damage was also given to the farmers, but now the government has stopped it, pushing the farmers to the brink of starvation.