Have You Heard About The Potato Crisis?

Amid the political blame game over Bengal's potato ban, which led to shortages in Jharkhand and Odisha, Uttar Pradesh farmers are the unlikely winners.

As West Bengal imposed restrictions on interstate potato supplies to manage stock levels, triggering price surges and a political war of words in neighbouring states, farmers in Uttar Pradesh, the country's top potato producer, are seeing a silver lining.

After a long time, potato prices in Uttar Pradesh are inching up due to increased demand from states like Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Assam, which rely primarily on West Bengal for their supplies.

With the harvesting of new crops delayed by 10-20 days because of late sowing, extended rain, and challenges in procuring fertilisers like di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), the hardening of rates in Uttar Pradesh could not have come at a better time.

"Prices of old potato crops, which until a few days ago were quoted at Rs 20 to Rs 25 per kg, are now selling for Rs 28 to Rs 30 per kg. Prices of new crops have risen from Rs 30 per kg to Rs 40 per kg," said Pradeep Sharma, a potato farmer in Agra.

According to the data from agmarknet.gov.in, wholesale prices of the deshi variety in Agra markets have risen around 10.5 per cent to Rs 2,100 per quintal on December 7 from Rs 1,900 per quintal in less than a month.

West Bengal announced the ban on the night of November 27 following a spike of Rs 10 per kg in potato prices in the state.

The decision left hundreds of trucks stranded at state borders, resulting in shortages in neighbouring Odisha, where prices almost doubled to Rs 50 to Rs 60 per kg, and Jharkhand, which saw the cost going up around Rs 10 a kg.

This comes at a time when the prices of other vegetables are soaring.

According to CRISIL, the cost of a home-cooked vegetarian meal climbed 7 per cent year-on-year in November, driven largely because of the rising prices of potatoes and tomatoes, which account for 26 per cent of a thali's cost.

In the West Bengal assembly, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee defended the decision and said potato exports would resume only after the arrival of new crops.

In late October, Cyclone Dana had impacted the sowing season for potatoes, which typically spans mid-September to November, and delayed harvesting by two weeks.

West Bengal is the largest potato producer in India after Uttar Pradesh.

However, production in the state fell by around 1 million tonne Y-o-Y in the 2023-2024 crop year, according to the Union ministry of agriculture's first Advance Estimates.

Bengal Agricultural Marketing Minister Becharam Manna conducted surprise inspections at border areas and alleged that businessmen, backed by the central government, exported potatoes to Bangladesh in November despite restrictions.

Though West Bengal has imposed similar bans on interstate potato supplies in previous years, the issue has taken a political twist this time.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is in the Opposition in Jharkhand, has accused the Trinamool Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha of conspiring to benefit each other with the decision, citing the presence of Banerjee at Chief Minister Hemant Soren's swearing-in ceremony the day after the ban was announced.

Suvendu Adhikari, leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal assembly, called the move 'undemocratic' and attributed the price rise to black marketing.

Agricultural economist Kalyan Kanti Das of North Bengal Agriculture University echoed these concerns.

"The government doesn't have control over the market. Hoarders are managing the potato economy."

Progressive Potato Traders' Association Secretary Lalu Mukherjee denied allegations of hoarding and said the state had enough stocks to meet local demand and supply neighbouring states.

In Jharkhand, local potato production lasts only a few months, and the state depends on 600 to 700 tonnes of potatoes daily from West Bengal.

Abhishek Anand, secretary to the Jamshedpur Agricultural Produce Market Committee, said higher prices were because of a supply-demand gap.

The state has opened help centres offering potatoes at wholesale rates, he said.

BJP MP Manish Jaiswal from Jharkhand's Hazaribagh in the Lok Sabha sought the Centre's intervention, saying the potato was a free trade item and states could not block its movement.

"Both the governments in West Bengal and Jharkhand are anti-BJP. Jharkhand lacks the political will to secure its rightful demand," he said.

Amid criticism, Soren said the chief secretary was in touch with the West Bengal government and he would interfere if needed.

Talking to media in Odisha, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra accused West Bengal of creating an artificial scarcity to tarnish the BJP-led state government's image.

Patra said the state was prepared to increase sourcing potatoes from Uttar Pradesh if West Bengal halted supply again.

In August, when the state grappled with a similar situation, the newly elected government had announced plans to reduce its reliance on West Bengal by opting to import potatoes from Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP runs the government, as an alternative source.

Debendra Sahoo, secretary, Cuttack Chhatra Bazaar, the biggest wholesale market in the state, says longer transportation time from Uttar Pradesh reduces the tuber's shelf life, and the supply of old stocks due to delays in harvesting makes it worse..

Odisha Trader Association President Sudhakar Panda said potatoes were selling for Rs 2,800 to 3,200 per quintal..

"Since 80 per cent of our potatoes come from West Bengal, normalcy in rates depends on easing the restrictions," he said.

The BJP has targeted the Biju Janata Dal, which was in power for 25 years until this year, for not creating enough cold storages and failing to implement the Potato Mission aimed at boosting production.

BJD MLA and former agriculture minister Arun Sahoo said there had been a marginal increase in potato production, accusing the BJP of dodging accountability and urging it to address the issue of poor-quality seeds and low support prices for potato farmers..

Meanwhile, a farmer in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, said the prices would further increase if the potato crisis in eastern India persisted.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com