After a joint field verification, a team of officers of the Horticulture Department, Odisha State Cooperative Marketing Federation (Markfed) and Registrar of Cooperative Society reported to the steering committee that marketable surplus of 300 tonnes of the tuber are available in six potato growing districts.
“As the availability of potato this year is much less and farmers got a good price due to low production, it was decided not to procure potato under the ‘Potato Buffer Stock Scheme’ in 2016,” official sources said.
In view of the low potato production this year, the steering committee had decided to maintain buffer stock of 3,250 tonnes in two cold storages of Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur. In 2015, the Government had been able to maintain a buffer stock of 465.3 tonnes due to storage constraint.
Contrary to the field report, about 20,000 tonnes of potato was harvested in Koraput district alone in March. In absence of procurement by Government agencies like local cooperative societies and Regulated Market Committees (RMCs), the farmers were forced to sell their crop at throwaway price. Fearing damage to potato, farmers of the district sold the stock to outside traders between Rs. 500 and Rs. 600 per quintal.
The situation was similar in coastal districts of Cuttack, Puri and Balasore where farmers sold their produce at distress price due to lack of institutional procurement.
Even as Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy blamed the price rise on low production of potato in the State, traders attributed it to West Bengal Assembly elections. The neighbouring State is the major supplier of potato to Odisha.
