India: Potato can help avert food crisis

This starchy tuber has all the qualities to be a substitute for the staples such as rice and wheat. With some early arrival of the new crop of potatoes, the price is rather on course of plummeting.

According to a report carried in a Bangla contemporary, over the past years by this time usually 80 per cent potatoes from the cold storages were released but this year 50 per cent are yet to be released. Potatoes are sold from cold storages at Tk 23 a kilogram and in the wholesale and retail markets these are priced at Tk 25 and Tk 28-30 respectively.

Already farmers who stored their produce in cold storages are counting losses. Their production cost together with the rental fee for a sack of potatoes comes to Tk1,300 but they have to sell the sack at Tk 700-750 only. Thus loss for each sack of potatoes is Tk550-600.

Munshiganj is a potato-producing belt. Farmers there are now worried about the huge loss they are going to incur. In the 64 cold storages, 500,000 tonnes of potatoes were preserved. Leaving aside the 84,000 tonnes of potato seeds, there were 416,000 tonnes to be sold before the cultivation of the next crop. But so far only 186,000 tonnes could be sold out. Farmers who disposed of their produce from the farm in the harvesting season got a good price but those who expected better price in the lean season are now incurring losses.

The step-brotherly treatment potato and its growers is receiving is in fact a result of both policy failure on both fronts of agriculture and food promotion. In the past when this country had scarcity of rice which was the people’s only staple, wheat was imported and promoted as a substitute. People here reluctantly started shifting to this equally if not more nutritious food item.

There was also an attempt to promote potato as a substitute but although people began to make greater use of this vegetable-cum-staple in preparing dishes, it never gained the ground wheat did. Now that the growers of potato are counting losses and both rice and wheat have crossed all previous price records, it is time the policymakers reviewed the food habits of the people and launched a promotional campaign in favour of potatoes.

For years now potato harvest has been more than the country’s consumption need. Even in the current year, 11,000,000 tonnes were harvested against a demand for 8,000,000 tonnes. Quite clearly, potato export could be a viable option for averting market glut. In fact, the process of export to countries like Russia where potato is a staple food was started on a limited scale. Here the main obstacle is the quality and variety in demand by the importing countries.

Quality potatoes from cold storage can still be exported and at the same time it can be promoted as an alternative food item to wheat and rice. Rice production has dropped in almost all countries due to the hostile weather. A major exporter India has already raised price on its exportable rice which, however, will be less than it exported the previous year. There is a fear that this will push the prices of rice further up in the international market.

Apart from the carbohydrate, this highly digestible tuber crop has vitamin C, protein, thiamin and niacin. All these nutrients certainly make potato a superior food item than rice and wheat. At least a significant portion of the staple can be substituted by potato. All segments of people will benefit by making a choice for more potatoes than they used to consume but particularly those who cannot afford rice and wheat can derive the benefit if they substitute half or even more than the staple they need.

A promotional campaign with circulation of recipe for preparation of tasty dishes of potato can make it popular in this time of crisis and also help avert the losses farmers are incurring. A greater demand may raise the price to a reasonable level for the growers to garner at least the production cost.

nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com