“Potato procurement centres were opened only on papers,” claimed Sudhir Shukla, a farmer of Farrukhabad district.

Export office of potatoes defunct for two years

The previous Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh had mulled setting up vodka and potato chip units but the change of government in May, 2007 put paid to the plan.

In 2005, a ‘UP potato export facilitation society’ was set up by the UP State Agriculture Produce Marketing Board, which is better known as Mandi Parishad.

The society included 22 farmers drawn from major potato producing districts like Kanpur, Kannauj, Farrukhabad, Etah, Etawah, Mainpuri, Agra, Bagpat and Meerut. These farmers were also sent to Jaipur for training at National Institute of Agriculture Marketing (NIAM). They also visited Sri Lanka, Dubai and a few other South East Asian nations to explore the markets. The Mandi Parishad incurred an expenditure of nearly Rs 20 lakh on the tour and training programme of the farmers. In 2005, the Mandi Parishad set up an office at Vashi in Mumbai the cost of Rs 25 lakh. It also hired a cold storage and members of the society were asked to take their potatoes to Vashi. The office of the society at Vashi is lying unused for last two years.

Uttar Pradesh accounts for more than 30 per cent of potatoes produced in India. The state also has the highest number of cold storages — 1,316, — with a storage capacity of 92 lakh MT.