The demand in the market, consequently, has outstripped the available produce by a huge margin. The requirement of potatoes this season hovers around 45-50 lakh tones as against the available produce of 33 lakh tonnes.

To make matters worse, the West Bengal government hasn’t done anything to bridge the acute demand-supply gap nor has it taken steps to import the necessary demand of potatoes. State agriculture department sources point out that so far around 2 to 5 lakh tonnes of potatoes have trickled into Bengal, mostly having been brought in from Punjab through private channels.

Chairman of the All Bengal Cold Storage Association Patit Paban De pointed out that much of the potatoes that are finding their way into the local markets in Bengal are coming from cold storage units.

“We cannot export potatoes to other states this year. At present, the potatoes in the market are from the cold storages. Around 10 lakh tonnes of potatoes have already been released, and we have around 23 lakh tonnes in stores now, which will be available in the market until the next harvest comes in January,” he said.

The blight and cold storage twin effect has resulted in farmers selling potatoes at Rs 5 per kg and consumers buying them at Rs 15-17 per kg.

The state agriculture marketing department seems to have failed in regulating the potato price this season too.

While this year’s problems are being squarely blamed on blight, last year had seen farmers and consumers in Bengal suffer heavily as middlemen and and cold storage owners took control of the supply chain. The farmers were forced to go for distress sale, packing off their crop at Rs 2-3 per kg, while the production cost was about Rs 4 per kg. Then the average retailer was compelled to buy potatoes for Rs 10-12 per kg.

... contd.