Potato farmers in West Bengal go in for distress sale

KOLKATA: Potato farmers in West Bengal are being forced to sell their produce at a much lower price as huge volumes of potatoes are lying at the cold storages. The arrival of new crop from Punjab in the Bengal market has also added to the woes of the farmers as consumers are preferring the new crop. The price of potato has dropped by Rs 50 on a 50 kg bag and is currently hovering around Rs 100 - Rs 120.

Almost six lakh tonne potato is lying in the cold storages as farmers are even unable to realise cost price of their products. ""We don't think more than a lakh tonne will be sold in next couple of days," the traders said. Although the state government has extended storage period for the old crop by 15 days, it will start rotting by that time.


The state had a bumper crop for the second consecutive year in 2011. Production of potato in the state was 95 lakh tonne in 2011 against 100 lakh tonne in 2010. But a good crop across the country led to a drop in demand while the farmers were unable to export the crop to other destinations like Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore.

"We have sought the state government's intervention to stop further import into the state," said Patit Paban Dey, former president of the West Bengal Cold Storage Association. "Already two rakes (40,000 quintal) of new crop has arrived in the state from Punjab. Although the Punjab crop costs almost double of what the farmers sell here, people prefer the new crop," he said. While the Punjab crop is priced at around R600 per quintal, Bengal crop is sold at R300-350 per quintal.

Meanwhile, the state government has increased the preservation period to December 30 from December 15 earlier. Although the state government has extended storage period for the crop by 15 days, prolonged storage will lead to quality degradation for the crop. Given the agri-climatic condition of the state, potato cannot be stored in the cold storages for more than 36 weeks.