Forty-three-old Lufthar Rahman of Abhirampur village in Hooghly, 90 km from Kolkata, is ruing his decision to cut the area under potato by almost half this crop year that began in December.
With potato prices at record high, Lufthar could have made a killing had he sowed the Jyoti variety of the tuber on all his 10 bighas (around 3.3 acres of land).
“Last year, the prices had plunged so low that I did not lift my stocks from the cold storage. This year, I cultivated potato only on five bighas; on the rest I went for mustard cultivation,” he rues.
Prices rise
After plunging to record lows last year, potato prices have been spiralling up since February, thanks to an estimated 25 per cent dip in production.
The production is estimated to be around 32 million tonne against the initial estimate of 43 million tonne this year, market sources said.
The wholesale price of the tuber (Jyoti variety) has jumped to Rs 1,260 a quintal from Rs 200-250 in end-December. The drop in production is mainly on account of blight in certain potato-producing States such as UP and lower-than-anticipated rains in Karnataka, said Ms Vedika Narveker, Senior Research Analyst at Angel Broking.
According to Mr Patit Paban De, member, West Bengal Cold Storage Association, a number of farmers have, like Lufthar, scaled down their cultivation this year. There has been 8-10 per cent decline in the area under potato in Bengal this year.
Holding stock
Farmers have been holding onto their stock in anticipation of higher prices. This has created a demand-supply mismatch, thereby pushing prices up further. “The release from cold storage is lower by 3-4 per cent as farmers and traders are holding onto their stock,” Mr De said.
The ensuing rains will spur demand, pushing up prices further, said Mr Mahendra Swarup, President, Federation of Cold Storage Association.