A number of farmers in the state are also loan defaulters as they failed to pay off the loans despite surplus production last year. Their financial problems have gone up exponentially this year.

Anil Pandit, a farmer from Dhaniakhali from Hooghly, laments: “Last year, I took a loan of around Rs 40,000 for cultivation on my 22 bighas. But I suffered a huge loss and went for distress sale. I couldn’t repay the loan eventually. This year, I didn’t get any loan since I am a defaulter now. I had to sell off my wife’s jewellery and even mortgaged my house. But half of my crop is gone (due to the blight). I have suffered a loss to the tune of Rs 1 lakh this year.”

Last Sunday, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee announced during his Hooghly visit that all the farmers with insurances would soon get money. However, the insurance plan hasn’t yet been followed up by the state agriculture department.

Sumit Ghosh, additional director of the state agriculture department, maintains that the state government has covered around 3.9 lakh farmers under the insurance scheme this year, and the valuation of the entire insurance plan is around Rs 700 crore.

“We have sent our reports to the agriculture insurance company. They are calculating and working out the amount of insurance money. We expect the process to be over by October, and the farmers will get their money by the end of the year,” said state agriculture minister Naren De.