It?s becoming a political hot potato?the West Bengal government?s handling of a bumper potato crop this year. As prices rose dramatically in September and October (Rs 10-12 a kg as compared to Rs 6-8 in August), senior government ministers went into a huddle for the whole of last week to sort out the crisis. This is the festival season, Durga Puja is on us, and the state government is in a tizzy to bring prices down. But what has led to the escalation in prices, especially in a year when there?s plenty?
Bengal is the second-largest potato grower in the country, and this year it produced 9.5-10 million tonnes of the crop against 5.5 million tonnes last year. The problem of plenty caught the administration on the wrong foot, where it has remained right since the harvest in February. Even as potato farmers were forced to opt for distress sales to get rid of the crop, the government fixed a support price at Rs 350 per quintal. The 400-odd cold storages in the state can take in half the crop, and they did. Potatoes are normally stored from March-November, but cold storage players are getting anxious that too much of the crop is still left in storage. In the last week of September, state finance minister Asim Dasgupta announced that the government would release 6 lakh tonnes of the 9.7 million tonnes it had procured from farmers to arrest prices, but cold storage owners are yet to get the relevant orders.
Bengal?s potatoes are sold in Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam and Andhra Pradesh. Of the 6 lakh tonnes to be released, 1 lakh tonnes was set aside to be distributed through the public distribution system (PDS), and thereby hangs a tale. It?s an open secret that the PDS system in the state needs an overhaul. At many places, the infrastructure is missing, there are too many leakages and PDS shops often refuse to sell goods received because of their poor quality. They fear a repeat of the food riots that took place in Bengal?s districts two years ago. In a way, what?s happened to the potato crop is symptomatic of the general malaise enervating the Bengal administration. In a crisis situation, the first thing the administration does is start a blame game. Even during the potato crisis, it isn?t speaking in one voice. At least four ministers are talking, from finance to agriculture to relief and rehabilitation.
With nearly 500,000 farmers engaged in growing potatoes, it?s also surprising that the government hasn?t opened the door to contract farming. Pepsico has a project in the state at Haraldaspur in the Hooghly district and it procured 22,000 tonnes this year, up from 11,000 tonnes last year. That Pepsi is happy with the project?s progress is evident from the fact that it is expanding the chips-making factory in the state so that it can process up to 1 lakh tonnes of potatoes by 2013-14. Granted that a state-level cooperative on a scale like Amul?s is almost impossible in Bengal where land holdings are fragmented, but many industry leaders have time and again reiterated the need to formulate a contract farming policy for the state. It is definitely possible to have state-level cooperatives for potatoes, they argue. In fact, potato farmers, cold storage owners and other stakeholders have been demanding a potato board to rein in the uncertainty surrounding the crop year after year. Just last year, disease and poor weather conditions led to a shortfall of 40% in production.
In a state that primarily thrives on agriculture (18 of its 19 districts are agricultural), it is irrational that there is such a lack of corporate involvement in farming. There are many reasons for this, not the least of them being political compulsions; key Left Front partners like the Forward Bloc are unwilling to allow retail marketing in agriculture. It?s not that chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and his senior colleagues aren?t aware of how its skewed agricultural policy creates problems for Bengal. At the CII national council meet last week, Bhattacharjee admitted as much. Bengal grew 125 lakh tonnes of vegetables last year?it?s the largest producer of vegetables in India. The chief minister said, ?We need to market them properly. We cannot continue with the old system of marketing and there has to be a change in the system. Our present policy is not to encourage big corporates in the retail sector but we are gradually bringing in changes in our policy.? But in the same breath, he also exhorted the industry to be patient, reminding it that though agriculture is the sector to be tapped in the state, nothing can be done in a hurry.
Is the state really ready for agro-based ventures? It has been cold-shouldering even the model Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act, thus keeping away home-based FMCG conglomerate ITC and others like Reliance from buying directly from farmers. At the CII meet, his first in the two since the Singur debacle, Bhattacharjee urged that land reform measures, raising the ceiling of land ownership, technological upgradation and developing R&D were essential growth drivers for the agricultural sector. But the Left has been in power for three decades, with a loyal rural base up to now. Shouldn?t such reforms have been ushered in long ago? Don?t even dare pose this question to any of the top Left leaders or the blame game will begin all over again.