Potato distress sale starts, no change in retail price in city mkts

Kolkata: A bumper harvest has triggered distress sale of potato across several districts of south Bengal, with farmers forced to sell the popular Jyoti variety at throwaway prices of Rs4-5 per kg, even as consumers in Kolkata continued to pay nearly three to four times more in retail markets.Farmers in Hooghly, Bankura, Burdwan and Nadia districts said the sharp fall in farm-gate prices left them with little choice but to offload their produce at heavy losses for fear of unsold stock piling up during the ongoing harvesting season.
Despite the crash at the farm level, potatoes retailed between Rs 14 and Rs 19 per kg in Kolkata retail markets — a gap that farmers and traders attributed to the long chain of intermediaries, locally known as phoreys, who dominated the supply chain."While the production cost of a 50-kg bag is around Rs 400, we are now forced to sell it for Rs 250," said Samir Manna, a potato farmer from Singur in Hooghly district. "We are worried that cold storages will not have enough space to accommodate the entire crop. So farmers are selling quickly to avoid total losses."This year's crisis came in the wake of exceptionally favourable winter weather, with almost no rainfall during the growing season. The conditions helped push yields to record levels across the state. Conservative estimates placed total potato production in West Bengal at around 1.5 crore tonne, but traders believed output could cross 1.7 crore tonne by the end of the harvesting season in April. Production was also strong in north Bengal. However, the state's domestic consumption was estimated at only about 60 lakh tonne, leaving a massive surplus that must either be stored, transported to other states, or exported. West Bengal has around 580 cold storages, which can collectively hold roughly 75 lakh tonne of potato. Industry representatives said the storage capacity gap could leave a large volume exposed to market volatility — or worse, spoilage."The bumper harvest is good news for agriculture, but the market cannot absorb such a large quantity immediately," said a trader at Kolkata's Posta wholesale market. "Unless inter-state sales increase, prices will remain under pressure."The potato industry is still recovering from losses incurred last year. In 2025, the state govt announced a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 900 per quintal, but open market prices fell to around Rs 600 per quintal, leading to estimated losses of over Rs2,200 crore on stored stocks. State agri-marketing minister Becharam Manna urged farmers not to panic. "There is no need to panic. The govt will procure potato at the minimum support price and marginal farmers will be given priority," he said.Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Women's day wishes, messages and quotes !