Cuttack/Bhubaneswar, April 5: The potato in your alu bonda or French fries will cost you dear. Prices of this favourite tuber have hit the roof, leaping from Rs 8 a week ago to Rs 14 a kilogram in the twin cities. Wholesale prices have touched Rs 1,200 per quintal this year at Chhatra Bazaar, one of the largest vegetable markets in the state.

The Chhatra Bazaar Byabasayi Sangha spokesperson said eight to 10 truckloads (each carrying 100 quintals) were reaching the market every day with an average procurement rate ranging between Rs 1,050 and Rs 1,100 per quintal. The better quality potatoes cost Rs 1,100 per quintal.

Potato prices have been ascending heavenward over the past three months. In January, wholesale prices at Chhatra Bazaar ranged from Rs 800 to Rs 850 per quintal. In February, prices were in the range of Rs 850 to 900 per quintal with the same amount of arrivals. The price went further northward in the range of Rs 950 to Rs 1,000 in March. Arrivals were steady, with eight to 10 trucks coming in every day.

The rise in retail prices is said to be mainly on account of lack of local supply and deficient storage facilities in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Not surprisingly, common people are at the receiving end.

“Potato prices have almost doubled in the past three months. A kilogram was available for Rs 6 to Rs 7 in December last year, but now they cost Rs 14 a kilo,” said Suvenka Das, a homemaker at Sutahat. “My daily vegetable budget has gone haywire because of the steady rise in prices of potatoes, which has a major share in the family menu,” said Anurupa Rao, a homemaker from Mehendipir.

Bhubaneswar homemaker Rashmiprabha Parida said: “Potato prices have hit us all. The children are particularly fond of dishes made of potato.’’

General secretary, Unit I Market Traders’ Association, Gayadhar Swain blamed it on low production and poor storage facilities. “The low production of potatoes in Odisha is the main problem. Last year there was bumper crop but farmers had to sell the stocks cheap because of lack of cold storage or bad management,” he said.

Sources said the state consumes more than 5 lakh tonnes of potato a year. The annual production from the state was in the range of 1.75 to 1.8 lakh tonnes, while the rest came from Bengal.Chhatra Bazaar Byabasayi Sangha secretary Debendra Sahu said: “We have very little to do with the rising prices, as procurement cost is going up because of increase in prices at the source end.”

Chhatra Bazaar handles over four lakh quintals of potatoes per annum. Arrivals under normal circumstances range from eight to 10 trucks a day and during glut, go up to 16 trucks (each carrying 100 quintals). As there is almost no potato production in the state, the vegetable mandi is dependent on Bengal for the cash crop.

“Prices of potato in Bengal have been on an upward curve. Consequently, prices of potato stocks reaching here are being offered at higher rates. Besides, the overall potato production in the country has dropped this year,” Sahu said.

“The situation is likely to improve if arrival of potato increases with supply, which is expected to increase in the next two weeks after the cold storages in Bengal start releasing the vegetable,” he said.

“I was selling potato for Rs 13 per kilo yesterday. But we were forced to sell it at Rs 14 per kilo today because we are buying it at Rs 12 per kilo now,” said a vegetable seller at Cantonment Road.