Bumper potato production and relatively low demand have resulted in prices of the spud falling by 50 per cent year-on-year currently in West Bengal. This has resulted in considerable losses for the farmers.
Potato production in Bengal has increased to 115 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, compared with 100 lakh tonnes in 2023-24.
“This year, our potato growers witnessed a bumper production, backed by an increase in the area under cultivation. The production of around 115 lakh tonnes has been the highest since 2012-13,” Patit Paban De, a senior member of West Bengal Cold Storage Association, told businessline.
Amid the bumper crop, demands for the spud remain muted, leading to a share fall in wholesale prices.
Impact of cheaper veggies
“Our State generally needs on average 4-5.5 lakh tonnes of potato per month during January-March for consumption, while in June-September, monthly consumption generally goes up to over 7 lakh tonnes. But in June this year, the demand for potatoes has not gone up as prices of other vegetables have remained low. When vegetable prices shoot up, people generally substitute those with buying potatoes,” De pointed out.
According to Paschim Banga Pragatishil Alu Byabsayee Samiti secretary Lalu Mukherjee, wholesale prices of the spud are currently at around Rs 12-14 per kg for the Jyoti variety potatoes, down from around Rs 24-25 per kg during the same time a year ago.
“In the current situation, farmers are incurring losses. After the arrival of new crops in February-March, farmers were getting Rs 10 per kg on the field. Cold storage loading prices were at around Rs 10-11 per kg. However, now they are getting prices of around Rs 7-8 per kg,” said Mukherjee.
“As there was a restriction last year on selling Bengal’s potatoes to other states, cold storages had excess potatoes. As a result, this year farmers had to sell the old stocks first, which has caused a delay in selling new crops,” Mukherjee said.
Curbs on inter-State trade
The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government last year restricted inter-State supply of the tuber in a bid to maintain the stock and keep the prices of potato under control. Potato traders in Bengal went on strike, demanding that the government allow them to sell the spud to the other states.
“Currently, the West Bengal government is not restricting us from selling potatoes to other States. But, this year demand from other States is also very low. Odisha was hugely dependent on us for potatoes. But as we could not supply to Odisha last year, Uttar Pradesh took advantage of the opportunity and sold their spud to the State. This year too UP’s potatoes have flooded the Odisha market, as a result we were not able to sell much. We lost all important Odisha market,” Mukherjee said.
This year wholesale prices are not likely to cross Rs 18-20 per kg unless any unforeseen events occur, De said.
Traders associations are urging the government to save the growers from incurring huge financial losses. “As farmers are currently incurring losses of around Rs 4 per kg, we will urge our government to buy potatoes directly from them to use the stock for mid-day meals at government-sponsored schools,” Mukherjee said.