Abdur Razzak Molla, state minister for food processing said, "We have problems in acquiring land for the various investment proposals that have come in."

"Most of the time the prospective investors are looking for a tract of captive land for cultivation purpose. However, there are practical problems as the per capita cultivable land available in the state is only one tenth of a hectare," Molla added.

"Therefore we are looking at the buyback system where the food processing unit will have a buyback agreement with the farmers. They will be providing the fertilisers, seeds, insecticides and other related material," Molla said.

According to him there have been complaints from the food processing industry regarding the price and the quality of raw material available in the state.

"This necessitates introduction of new varieties of seedsand we are willing to cooperate with private entrepreneurs. For example people have complained that there is a high water content in our the potato grown in the state," Molla added.

There are certain complaints regarding the price and the fluctuations of prices of vegetables too. Molla said the buyback arrangement will have a negotiated price that will have to be accepted by the farmers and the processing unit irrespective of the prevailing market price.

"This will also ensure that the farmers get a proper price and will be less vulnerable to seasonal fluctuations like what we have seen in the last two years," Molla said.

He said such arrangements can be immediately worked out in the case of potato and banana in the districts like Howrah and Hooghly where these are grown in abundance. "In fact such arrangements can be made for any crop where there will be an interested processor," he added.

However, the state is yet to have any concrete proposal in the buyback model from any investor willing to set upa food processing unit in the state.

Molla said, "All the proposals that we receive are based on the captive land scheme. We will try to popularise the buy back model in the state."