Relief to potato farmers may cost West Bengal govt

The state government may incur a loss in its attempt to give relief to the potato farmers following a bumper production last season.

The state government ~ which had procured 9.7 lakh metric ton of potato at Rs 3.5 a kg ~ is likely to find it difficult to sell off its entire stock due to lack of demand following surplus production across the country.

Senior officials at state agriculture marketing department told The Statesman that the state government has recently decided to sell 1 lakh metric ton of potato through the public distribution system at a cheaper rate than the market.

This apart, a total of 5 lakh metric ton of potato would be sold to the traders at Rs 4 a kg. But what is to be done with the 3.7 lakh metric ton of potato, which has been kept in cold stores, is uncertain as traders have shown little interest in procuring potato from the state government stock. The situation has turned more critical because as per norms, the entire stock kept in the cold stores has to be withdrawn by 30 November.

A senior official said, “Traders do not appear too much enthusiastic in procuring potato after it was announced that 5 lakh metric ton would be sold. It is expected that initially 5 lakh metric ton potato would be sold but it would be tough to sell the rest 3.7 lakh metric ton of potato.”