This Hooghly Farmer Built a Rs 30 Lakh Potato Seed Business Supporting 150 Farms

When Subrata Karmakar was 11, he would trail behind his father across nine bigha of farmland in Beleswar Basna village in West Bengal’s Hooghly district. The soil was familiar under his feet. The routine was steady. What stayed with him most, though, was a sentence his father repeated often.

“A good farmer always produces his own seeds.”

At the time, they were growing Kufri Jyoti potatoes brought in from Punjab on four bigha of land. Subrata watched closely. He noticed how the quality of seed changed the harvest, how the yield shaped income, and how profit determined whether a season felt hopeful or strained. Those walks through the fields slowly turned into lessons about independence.

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He did not know then that the same idea would shape his life decades later.

Choosing to stay with the soil

In 1998, after completing his BA degree, Subrata made a decision many graduates hesitate over. He stayed back. Farming was not a fallback. It was work he understood deeply.

The early years were full of trial and error. He grew rice, pumpkin, cucumber and gourds, testing varieties and methods across seasons. Some crops performed well. Others failed quietly. Each experiment added to his understanding of soil, timing and care. He learnt to read small signals in the field, the kind that do not appear in manuals.

In 2012, while focusing on vegetables, he heard that the West Bengal government was working towards self-sufficiency in superior quality potato seeds. The idea stirred something personal. His father had spoken about producing one’s own seeds. Now the state was pushing in the same direction.

Subrata began meeting district agricultural officers, asking questions, listening carefully. The concept of Apical Rooted Cutting, known as ARC technology, entered his vocabulary during those conversations. The goal was clear: strengthen Bengal’s own seed systems and reduce dependence on Punjab.

He felt ready to try.

The first attempt

His first practical experiment with ARC began in November 2023. He worked with micro plants and followed the procedure as closely as he could. The results were disappointing. Only around 40 percent of the ARC from micro plants succeeded. The numbers were lower than expected. For many, that might have been enough to step back.

Subrata chose to analyse instead. He studied what went wrong, adjusted his technique and tried again. The process demanded patience. Every correction brought gradual improvement. The setbacks became part of the training.

That persistence prepared him for the next phase.

Building a space for growth

Support arrived through the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana – RAFTAAR scheme, which had been initiated in West Bengal in 2020. Encouraged by the programme, Subrata applied for a subsidy in 2024. Approval followed, and with it came the opportunity to build infrastructure that matched his ambition.

He constructed a 1,000-square-metre greenhouse within a 15 katha area close to his field. The structure was fitted with a fan and pad cooling system designed to maintain temperatures between 18 and 24 degrees Celsius. The Farmers Producer Company invested Rs 7.5 lakh, and the state government contributed Rs 2 lakh as subsidy.

Inside the greenhouse, preparation became a precise routine. Cocopeat bars were soaked to remove salinity. An EC meter ensured the level stayed at 0.0 or 0.1 Siemens per centimetre. Beds were laid out carefully over polythene sheets. The cooling system was tested several times before any plantation began.

Next to the greenhouse stood a net house. Across the Balagarh block, 15 such net houses operated, including his. Together, they formed the physical backbone of what was slowly becoming a local seed movement.

Turning one plant into many

The micro plants arrived from the Zonal Adaptive Research Station laboratory in Krishnanagar, which worked in collaboration with the International Potato Centre. Each container carried 50 to 75 plantlets.

Planted five by five centimetres apart between September and March, the micro plants grew six to eight centimetres tall within three to four weeks. At that stage, Subrata cut the shoot with five leaves from the top. The shoots were washed in mineral water, treated with streptocycline and fungiclin spray, and then dipped in Rootex powder before being placed into small holes in the cocopeat bed.

Within three days, roots appeared.

When the plant grew again and formed five leaves, it was pruned once more. Through this ARC process, a single plant could produce around 256 plantlets. Each cycle multiplied the original material, creating a chain reaction of growth.

The work demanded discipline. Watering happened every three days. Foliar feeding with NPK 19:19:19 followed a steady schedule. Micronutrients were sprayed every 15 days. Over time, the routine settled into rhythm.

The shoots, as Subrata often explains, hold greater value than the roots. They carry the potential to create many more plants.

From plantlets to seed potatoes

Between September and December, the ARC process filled the greenhouse with young, rooted shoots. The next stage moved them into the net house, where tubers began to form.

This was where G0, or Generation Zero, potato seeds developed.

Each plant produced between 12 and 16 tubers weighing 5 to 20 grams. In 2024, Subrata harvested his first G0 crop from a 250-square-metre net house beside the greenhouse. The results strengthened his confidence. In 2025, he purchased 6,500 micro plants at Rs 6.50 each.

From those 6,500 micro plants, nearly 1,08,000 mother plantlets emerged across 22 beds in the polyhouse. From 13,500 plantlets, he later produced 67,000 G0 potato seeds. Through five Front Line Demonstrations, he harvested 12,500 kilos of potatoes. He sold 250 sacks in 2024, with each 50-kilogram sack priced between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500. His turnover from potato seeds reached Rs 30 lakh, while the Farmers Producer Company’s turnover stood at Rs 1 crore.

Each season brought larger batches, but the routine inside the greenhouse remained the same.

Farmers begin to trust

The real measure of success lay beyond his own field. ARC seeds yielded more potatoes than conventional seeds. One ARC seed could generate up to 26 tubers, averaging 18 to 20. Conventional seeds usually produced four to six tubers.

The pricing also made sense to farmers. Punjab seeds cost between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 for 50 kilograms. ARC seeds were available between Rs 1,200 and Rs 1,800 for the same quantity.

Distribution happened through Hooghly Vegetable Growers Producer Company Limited, where Subrata serves as a Director. Out of around 1,000 farmers associated with the organisation, about 150 now cultivate potatoes using ARC seeds.

In Baksagarh village, 74-year-old Hareram Singha grows table potatoes on one bigha of clay soil. In 2025, he produced 3,000 kilos of Himalini potatoes. This year, he has sown Chandramukhi and expects 4,000 kilos. Smaller potatoes are kept aside for seed preservation.

Shyamal Mukherjee, another Director of the Producer Company, farms across 30 to 40 bigha of hard soil. He points out that their potatoes remain free from diseases such as ring rot, black scurf and late blight. The shared greenhouse and 15 net houses have created a network of support.

As more farmers witness stable yields and manageable costs, confidence spreads.

Looking ahead

By 2026, the group expects to produce around 300,000 G0 tubers, which could generate roughly 1.8 million G1, G2 and G3 seeds. Some will be stored for the next season. Hooghly district, which spans 91,000 hectares, already produces over 30 lakh metric tonnes of potatoes each year. Across West Bengal, production reached 120 lakh metric tonnes in 2024–25, rising from 110 lakh metric tonnes the previous year.

Storage remains a challenge. According to Subhojit Saha, Vice President of the West Bengal Cold Storage Association, ARC potatoes are kept in existing facilities in places such as Dhaniakhali, Arambagh and Bainchi-Pandua, though dedicated space remains limited.

Even so, Subrata’s plans extend further. He wants to develop potato varieties suited for starch and chips. He also envisions a dedicated seed farm in Bengal, strengthening the state’s capacity to produce its own planting material.

The boy who once walked behind his father now stands at the centre of a network that links laboratories, greenhouses and farmers’ fields. The sentence he heard at 11 continues to guide him.

A good farmer produces his own seeds.

In Hooghly, that lesson has taken root and multiplied.