The government of Uttar Pradesh has introduced three new initiatives to support potato farmers for the 2026–27 period. Agriculture Minister Dinesh Pratap Singh presented the online portal potato.uphorticulture.in to ensure access to these programs in Lucknow.
To mitigate financial losses faced by farmers due to falling market prices during bumper potato harvests, the 'Bhamashakh Price Stability Fund' has been established with an amount of 1000 crore rupees, with an initial token amount set at 100 crore rupees.
A committee chaired by the Commissioner of Agricultural Production will determine the cost of production for potatoes. Subsequently, farmers will be provided with a subsidy equal to 25 percent of the determined cost of production or the difference between the cost of production and the selling price, whichever is lower. This support is available to every farmer on an area of up to 2 hectares and for a yield of up to 240 quintals per hectare, which is expected to directly benefit approximately 12–14 lakh potato farmers in the state.
Dinesh Pratap Singh clarified that farmers must apply exclusively online to receive benefits; offline applications will not be accepted. Subsidies will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of the respective farmers through the DBT system. The implementation of this system will occur in two phases: the first phase will run from January 1 to April 15, and the second from July 1 to October 31.
Furthermore, the Uttar Pradesh government has implemented a 1000 crore rupee program to provide financial assistance to farmers storing their harvest in private cold storage facilities. An initial token amount of 100 crore rupees has been allocated. Under this program, farmers receive a discount of 100 rupees per quintal on storage costs, with a maximum limit of 20,000 rupees per farmer. This welfare measure will benefit over 15 lakh farmers based on the storage of 173.03 lakh metric tons of potatoes across 2363 private cold storage facilities in the state.
Additionally, the 'Seed Sale Discount Program' has been launched, providing a discount of 5 crore rupees to ensure easy access for state farmers to new and high-quality potato varieties. Under this program, farmers will receive a direct discount of up to 1000 rupees per quintal when purchasing department-approved potato seeds. This will lead to a significant reduction in production costs per hectare and directly assist more than 15 thousand potato farmers in the state.