: Experts and Opposition leaders heaped criticism on the Trinamool Congress (TMC) Government’s policy of banning the export of potato to the neighbouring States for its reduction in demand in these States.
They said that the decision was not financially logical and had contributed to reduced prices of potato this year leading to farmers’ suicide.
State’s Agriculture Minister Purnendu Basu refuted this statement. So far, 17 potato farmers’ suicides have been reported in Bengal.
In 2013, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had imposed restrictions on export of potato to other States to curb its rising price in Bengal, which continued for one-and-a-half years. These restrictions were however eased last year.
Encouraged by the profit gained from potato farming last year, farmers had sown potato in more than 4 lakh hectares of land.
The chairperson of the Pradeshik Krishak Sabha, the peasant wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Madan Ghosh said that the West Bengal Government’s decision to restrict the export of potato to neighbouring States left them with no choice but to increase their own yield of potato.
“As a result, traders from other States lost interest in importing potato from West Bengal and our farmers lost an essential means to sell their crop,” he told The Hindu here on Sunday.
Mr. Ghosh said that the potato production this year had crossed 1 crore tonne compared to the normal yield of 90 lakh tonne. “So the State government’s decision to purchase 50,000 metric tonne directly from farmers is grossly inadequate,” he said, adding the State’s cold storages maximum capacity was only 65 lakh tonne.
Speaking in the same vein, professor of Economics and Rural Development in Vidyasagar University Sebak Kumar Jana said that the decision to ban export of potato was not financially logical. “If there was adequate infrastructure to set up more cold storages, such a loss to farmers could have been avoided,” he added.
Professor of Economics at Jadavpur University Joyashree Roy, however, said that to associate potato farmers’ suicide directly the with low price of the crop would be scientifically justified.
Mr. Basu, however said that the restriction on potato export was imposed to prevent large-scale shortage of the crop in Bengal as it was illegally exported to Uttar Pradesh, which had low crop production in 2013. “So, it was a positive step by the State Government that prevented the acute shortage of potato in West Bengal,” he told The Hindu .
Mr. Basu said that some dishonest potato traders were also responsible for the present crisis as they were not buying potatoes from farmers to pressurise the State Government for their vested interests.
The restriction was imposed to prevent shortage of the crop in Bengal as it was illegally exported to U.P.
Purnendu Basu
Bengal Agriculture Minister
