Nieuws uit West-Bengalen

PepsiCo and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) acknowledged and awarded six women farmers as part of its ‘Women’s Land Rights and Economic Empowerment’ activity in West Bengal.

Potato production in the current crop year is estimated to be 53.60 mt, down from 56.17 mt last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture's first estimate of horticulture production.

Cold storages full at 97% capacity; bumper crop drags prices of the spud down.

Potato cultivators in West Bengal were afraid they will face severe losses as the price of good quality seeds have skyrocketed even as the minimum support price (MSP) fixed has remained relatively low.

Retail prices of potatoes have risen marginally, given that farmers have been scrambling to stock up on the harvest, which has had a bumper production this year. This very bounty and the stockpiling is expected to keep potato prices stable over the next season.

Predicting a bumper harvest of potato this season, the West Bengal Cabinet on Monday decided to allow cold storage owners to purchase at least 10 lakh (1 Million) metric tons of tuber from farmers at a fixed price, so that they do not have to suffer losses, a senior official said.

Blaming the federal government for the steep hike in prices of essential commodities, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal alleged that the prices were rising as the Centre has snatched away the state's power.

The Kolkata state government (India) had given seven days time to potato traders to lower its wholesale price to Rs 22 per kg so that it can be sold at Rs 25 per kg.

As growth slows down and intense competition emerges from regional brands in potato chips, PepsiCo and ITC are shifting their focus more towards newer and healthier forms of packaged snacks, the market for which is growing at twice the speed.

Even though the ban by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on sale of potatoes to other states over the past three years has been lifted, cases of farmer suicides, which some say may have been driven by the fear of heavy losses, are still being reported.

A bumper crop, coupled with weak demand from other States, has led to a free-fall in potatoes prices in West Bengal.

Domestic potato production in India in the present Rabi season is likely to be 25-30 per cent higher over last year on account of good weather conditions.