Humble aloo turns political hot potato

Amid political blame game over Bengal's ban on tuber exports, which led to shortages in Jharkhand and Odisha, Uttar Pradesh farmers are the unlikely winners. RAMANI RANJAN MOHAPATRA & SANJEEB MUKHERJEE analyse

- RAMANI RANJAN MOHAPATRA & SANJEEB MUKHERJEE

As West Bengal imposed restrictions on interstate potato supplies to manage stock levels, triggering price surges and a political war of words in neighboring states, farmers in Uttar Pradesh, the country's top potato producer, are seeing a silver lining.

After a long time, potato prices in Uttar Pradesh are inching up due to increased demand from states like Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Assam, which rely primarily on West Bengal for their supplies.

With the harvesting of new crops delayed by 10-20 days because of late sowing, extended rain, and challenges in procuring fertilizers like diammonium phosphate (DAP), the hardening of rates in Uttar Pradesh could not have come at a better time.

"Prices of old potato crops, which until a few days ago were quoted at ₹20-25 per kg, are now selling for ₹28-30 per kg. Prices of new crops have risen from ₹30 per kg to ₹40 per kg," said Pradeep Sharma, a potato farmer in Agra.

According to the data from agmarknet.gov.in, wholesale prices of the deshi variety in Agra markets have risen around 10.5 per cent to ₹2,100 per quintal on December 7 from ₹1,900 per quintal in less than a month.

West Bengal announced the ban on the night of November 27 following a spike of ₹10 per kg in potato prices in the state.

The decision left hundreds of trucks stranded at state borders, resulting in shortages in neighboring Odisha, where prices almost doubled to ₹50-60 per kg, and Jharkhand, which saw the cost going up around ₹10 a kg.

This comes at a time when the prices of other vegetables are soaring. According to CRISIL, the cost of a home-cooked vegetarian meal climbed 7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in November, driven largely because of the rising prices of potatoes and tomatoes, which account for 26 per cent of a thali's cost.