Nov. 28: The government may have adopted a market-driven farm policy but the state has over the past two years failed to convince farmers to cut down potato cultivation.

An yield of 80 lakh tonnes of potato ? almost double the state?s requirement and 10 lakh tonnes more than last year ? has landed farmers in trouble for the second straight year. Over 20 per cent of the produce is in cold storage, agriculture department officials said.

About 10 lakh farmers grow potato in Hooghly, Burdwan and Birbhum. Around 50 lakh tonnes are produced in Hooghly alone.

The situation has been compounded by a virtual absence of export to Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Bihar. In Calcutta, the prices of Jyoti and Chandramukhi varieties have come down by at least Rs 2 per kg.

Agriculture minister Kamal Guha said because of the high yield last year, there was virtually no need to pull out potatoes from cold storages.

Officials said winter vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, radish and green peas have started flooding the markets. ?So, the demand for potato has fallen further.? From Rs 420 a quintal in July, its price dropped to Rs 160 in November.

Cold storage manager and potato dealer Manoj Khaitan committed suicide at Pandua in Hooghly, 65 km from Calcutta, last Wednesday allegedly because of crashing prices. He had borrowed money to invest about Rs 20 lakh in potato.