With the price of potato, a staple food in Odisha, continuing to shoot up much to the discomfiture of the newly-elected BJP government in the state, Chief Minister Mohan Majhi on Sunday appealed to his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee to lend assistance to tide over the ongoing crisis of the root vegetable.

The month-old crisis is attributed to the disruption of supply from neighbouring West Bengal upon which the state is over dependent for potato requirement. As the neighbouring state is halting the supply to meet local demand the prices of potato reached a new high at Rs 50 to 60 a kg in the retail market, pinching the pockets of consumers.

This year, the production is on a lower side in the neighbouring state.

“The state is passing through an acute shortage of potatoes. I requested Mrs. Banerjee earlier in Delhi during the NITI Aaayog meeting. She extended cooperation and the price was stabilized. However prices have again risen. So, I requested her to pay attention to this and take steps to solve the problem. She promised to take appropriate steps in this direction”, CM Majhi said in a statement.

The state government even imported potatoes from Uttar Pradesh resulting in the fall in price, albeit temporary. With the supply chain from the northern state being erratic, the demand got the better of the supply.

The plan to import tuber from Punjab was also contemplated. But that has been put on hold as procuring the root vegetable from far off northern State may not be cost effective.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to procure potatoes from Uttar Pradesh through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED).

The state requires at least 12 lakh tons of potato per annum. But it produces 22.82% of potatoes required in the State to meet consumers’ needs. With production and demand ratio being heavily imbalanced, the coastal State is heavily dependent upon neighbouring West Bengal, a potato surplus State, to meet with the consumption requirement of the root vegetables.

It may also be noted here that in order to make the State self-sufficient in potatoes by the year 2017-18, the previous BJD Government had launched the State Potato Mission during 2015-16 for production, storage and distribution of potatoes in the State. But the much-publicized mission did not yield the desired result.

The failure of the potato mission has been largely due to the dysfunctional state of the cold stores in the State. While 49 cold stores are currently in functional State, as many as 13 districts in the State do not have cold storage facilities resulting in the surplus vegetables, fruits and other perishable agrarian produce including potato going into waste.

It’s pertinent to note here that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its audit report in 2019 year had pulled up the State government for failing to utilize the financial resources that were at its disposal for the potato mission.