Potato recovers in West Bengal after state govt starts procurement

Farmers in Uttar Pradesh seeks sops or minimum purchase price assurance similar to Bengal govt

Potato prices have made a smart recovery in Burdwan district of West Bengal after the state government announced procurement of the vegetable to help farmers in distress.

The benchmark Pukhraj variety of potato was trading at Rs three a kg in the wholesale mandi at Burdwan on Friday, up three-fold from its lowest quote of one rupee in the first week of March. While the surge in the spot wholesale price is nowhere as much, traders have seen prices double in several parts of the state.

The recovery in potato price started after the West Bengal government announced procurement from farmers at Rs 4.60 a kg, to prevent distress sales. According to trade sources, the government plans to meet two objectives through procurement. Firstly, farmers would not be discouraged from sowing potato for the next season through a minimum assured price that, according to trade sources, is fairly above the cost of production of Rs 3.00-3.50 a kg. Secondly, good quality of potato would be made available for the mid-day meal scheme in government-owned schools.

"The government is buying only from farmers. So, traders, stockists and exporters who bought potato for future sales are not going to benefit from the government's price insurance scheme. While the government has assured a minimum price for farmers, others players in the trade have been excluded from the price support mechanism. The government should, therefore, buy potato from traders also," said Pravir Kumar Bera, Managing Partner of Agrive Export & Import, a Kolkata-based potato stockist and exporter.

Similarly, the Jyoti variety of potato in Kolkata is selling at Rs 4.50 a kg now from its recent lows of Rs three a kg. Potato output in West Bengal is estimated at 11-12 million tonnes, nearly 25 per cent of India's overall output. The Union Ministry of Agriculture estimates India's total potato output at 43.88 million tonnes for 2016-17, marginally higher than 43.42 million tonnes in the 2015-16.

However, infrastructure in the state has been very poor due to the lack of cold storage, leaving farmers with no option but to sell at whatever price buyers offer, said a trader on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, farmers in Uttar Pradesh aren't as lucky as their counterparts in West Bengal. While prices in UP remained lower than the cost of production, the state government is yet to announce relief measures to prevent distress sales.

Data compiled by agmarknet.in showed the prevailing price of average quality potato in Bareilly at Rs 3.75 a kg now, a decline from the highest price of this season of Rs 5 a kg. In the Kanpur mandi, potato was quoted at Rs 4.10 a kg on Friday, down from Rs 5 on March 5. Farmers in Uttar Pradesh, India's second largest potato producer, still await government's intervention in terms of financial support of minimum purchase price guarantee. Elsewhere across the country, potato prices remained subdued. Sanjeev Mittal, an Agra based farmer, said, "The government should start procurement of potato to prevent farmers from resorting to distress sales."