West Bengal is likely to harvest a bumper potato crop of over 130 lakh tonnes this year, backed by an increase in the area under cultivation and favourable weather. Bengal, the country’s second largest producer of potato, produced around 100 lakh tonnes of the spud last year.
“Potato production is expected to be over 130 lakh tonnes this year. The area under cultivation increased this year to 5.12 lakh hectares. Also, favourable weather conditions in the potato-growing regions of the State have led to a rise in the output,” Patit Paban De, a senior member of West Bengal Cold Storage Association, told businessline.
Production of the tuber in the State was impacted last year due to untimely rains. “Harvesting season for potatoes started in the middle of January this time. Harvesting of Pukhraj variety started first, and now Jyoti potato variety has started arriving at the markets,” De said, adding a very small quantity of Chandramukhi, the most expensive of all potato varieties, is also arriving.
MSP ₹900/quintal
Major potato-growing regions in the States are Hooghly, Medinipur and Bardhaman. “The loading of new potato crops in cold storages will start from March 1,” De said.
The West Bengal government earlier this week fixed ₹900 per quintal as the Minimum Support Price(MSP) for potatoes.
“We have decided to fix the MSP for potatoes at ₹900 per quintal to help the farmers. This will also ensure that they do not have to resort to distress sale of their produce,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said during a press conference at the State secretariat on Tuesday.
The State government enforced a ban on the interstate trade of the tuber in July last year after prices had shot up in Bengal significantly.
West Bengal sells around 20-25 lakh tonnes of excess potatoes to other States every year. States such as Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam depend on the spud grown in Bengal.