BJP takes up Potato Mission in Odisha to end crisis  

In a renewed attempt, Chief Minister Mohan Majhi-led BJP government has started the Potato Mission, which was launched by the previous BJD government with a lot of fanfare but failed to meet expectations. 

While Odisha consumes 12 lakh MT of potatoes a year, it produces only three lakh MT. For this huge difference between demand and supply, Odisha always depends on West Bengal and other states. When the supply from those states is disrupted for any reason, it leaves Odisha at the end of its tether. 

To end the dependency on other states for potatoes, the previous BJD government launched the ‘Potato Mission’ in 2015 for three years. Even though its tenure was extended thrice till 2024, the set target of potato cultivation on 26,000 hectares and the construction of 24 cold storages couldn’t be achieved. 

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In such a scenario, the present BJP government has decided to take the mission up for the next three years, till 2027. 
While the mission has been started without making any changes in the rules laid out by the previous government, the BJD is sceptical about its success. 

“The mission is lopsided. There is no new provision. So, that the mission would meet the same fate is obvious,” said BJD MLA Ganeswar Behera. 
However, the BJP is sanguine about the success of the mission. 

“What happened during the previous government won’t be repeated in the present government. This government is committed to constructing cold storage in each sub-division,” said Suratha Biswal, BJP leader. 

According to traders, for the success of the mission, it should be taken to the grassroots level. 

“During the previous government, the mission was confined to the secretariat only. I would like to request the government should go to the grassroots. The farmers should know that there is a potato mission for them. The success of the mission depends on the distribution of seeds, subsidy and massive cultivation,” observed Shakti Mishra, secretary of the Kuber-Puri Traders’ Association. 

On the other hand, farmers said the increase in potato production depends on high-quality seeds, availability of cold storage units and marketing. 

“I had a good harvest of potatoes. But I didn’t get the facility to preserve them,” said Dibyashankar Guru, a farmer while underscoring the importance of cold storage units. 

Another farmer Rabindranath Behera said, “If good quality seeds are provided, the production would definitely increase.”