Waking up to recurring potato crises, the state government has mooted creation of Rs 50 crore revolving fund to create buffer stock of the tuber.
The modalities of funding has not been finalised yet. The Rs 50 crore fund may be created with Budgetary support which would be utilised for buffer stock purpose. The final decision would be taken after consultation with the finance department. The buffer stock operation will be done by state owned Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC).
The Odisha State Cooperative Marketing Federation Ltd (Markfed) would participate in potato procurement to create buffer stock in four to five coastal districts. Markfed would give a concrete proposal soon to the cooperation department. Potato production in the state is pegged at 0.4 million tonne this year.
Presently, 15 cold storages including five in the cooperative sector and 10 by private players have agreed to earmark space for around 31,000 tonne of potato buffer stock by OSCSC. The directorate of horticulture would link the storage capacity with the farmers/farmer groups.
In addition, another 5,000 tonne storage capacity is expected to be readied in Jajpur shortly.
The assured benchmark value of potato is to be fixed after due examination of NCDEX (National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange) price index of potato in West Bengal during procurement season (February-March 2015) so that the tuber can be procured by Markfed and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed) without hassles.
To oversee potato buffer stock operations, the government is set to constitute a nine-member steering committee chaired by secretary for food supplies & consumer welfare M S Padhi. The liquidation of potato buffer stock has been pegged at approximately 20 per cent in August, 30 per cent in September, 30 per cent in October and 20 per cent in November 2015.
