Potato recovers in West Bengal after state govt starts procurement

Potato prices have made smart recovery in the Burdwan district of West Bengal since the state government announced procurement of this king of vegetables to help farmers in distress.The benchmark Pukhraj variety of potato was trading at Rs 3 a kg in the wholesale mandi of Burdwan on Friday witnessing 200 per cent increase from its lowest quote of Re 1 a kg in the first week of March. While the jump in spot wholesale price of potato is not to the extent of 200 per cent, traders have seen sharp increase of upto 100 per cent all across the state.The recovery in potato price started after the government of West Bengal announced its procurement from farmers at Rs 4.60 a kg to prevent farmers from distress sale. According to trade sources, the government plans to address twin objectives by procuring potato from farmers. Firstly, farmers would not be discouraged for sowing potato for the next season through minimum assured price of Rs 4.60 a kg which, according to trade sources, is fairly ...