'Potato cultivation in state to rise to 1.10 cr metric tonne'

Potato cultivation in Bengal will go up by around 14 lakh metric tonne this year compared to what it was the previous season.

This season, around 1.10 crore metric tonne of potato will be cultivated throughout the state.

Last year, potato production in the state was around 97 lakh metric tonne.

The increase in production would ensure availability of the staple food at normal price in the market.

Tapan Dasgupta, the state Agriculture Marketing minister, informed the Assembly on Monday that potato production this year will go up to around 1.10 crore metric tonne.

It may be mentioned that the Bengal government had helped farmers to get both potato seeds and fertilisers at much cheaper costs. This year, farmers had bought seeds at Rs 250 per quintal and fertiliser at Rs 300 per 50 kg.

Steps taken to check hoarding of potato seeds and fertilisers helped in reduction of prices of both fertiliser and seeds and helped avoid unnecessary crises in the market.

The annual consumption of potato in Bengal is around 60 lakh metric tonne. Thus, steps have been taken to export the 50 lakh metric tonne excess to other states.

Meanwhile, lack of cold storages as per the requirement has become a serious cause of concern. To resolve the issue, steps were taken up to clear the old stocks of potatoes from all cold storages. There are at present 450 cold storages in the state.

The increase in production will not affect the farmers as they had procured seeds and fertilisers at cheaper prices, compared to what they were sold for in previous years.

Dasgupta also told the Assembly that all Sufal Bangla outlets – through which members of Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs) sell fresh vegetables and other goods – were running successfully.

The daily sale at the outlets at Chinsura and Uttarpara is around Rs 42,000 and Rs 21,000.