For the Mohan Majhi government in Odisha, the humble potato has proved too hot to handle—quite literally. The kitchen essential has not climbed down from the `50-a-kg mark it touched in the state’s retail markets a month ago. Odisha banks on West Bengal for potato supply. After the neighbouring state banned movement of the tuber to control local prices in mid-July, stocks dipped and prices rose across the border. The inflation has not just messed with the food budgets of middle-class and poor households in the state, but has also left the BJP government in a state of discomfort.
Tough talks by the food supplies and consumer welfare minister, visits to mandis, and articulation of ambitious plans to procure stocks from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab have not worked. Majhi took up the matter with his counterpart Mamata Banerjee during the NITI Aayog meet late last month; that he had to dial Didi again on Sunday seeking her intervention in the matter reveals how delicate the issue is. Sustained price rises have a history of shaking up governments. At the moment, it’s just not potato, but other essentials like vegetables are also too costly to be ignored.
It means the Majhi government has a crisis on its frying pan. Its decision to buy 300 tonnes from UP through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation, to be sold at `30 at some urban stations, can only be a short-term measure with limited impact. Instead, the government can tap into the price stabilisation fund to procure stocks from major supplying states. It would also require the government to take traders on board for retail distribution that would calm the prices. A more vigilant enforcement against hoarding is needed, too.
This crisis is a baggage from the BJD regime, but blaming the regional party will not help. Odisha produces about 3 lakh tonnes of potato against its annual demand of 13 lakh tonnes, whereas West Bengal, India’s second largest producer, grows a whopping 12.6 million tonnes. To absorb such shocks in the future, Odisha must ramp up production, invest heavily in cold storages and incentivise the crop’s producers. The cash crop will lure farmers if the storage capacity is improved and decentralised. For that, a determined approach will be needed. Mere optics management will not make a lasting cut.