Timely awareness campaigns by Agriculture Dept ensure lesser damage to potato cultivation

Kolkata: Massive "timely" awareness campaign of the state Agriculture department has ensured a check in damage that would have hit potato cultivation in Bengal badly due to inclement weather conditions.

The initiative has also given a sigh of relief as it has curbed the skyrocketing price of the state's staple food item. Sowing of the potato begins in the month of October and needs dry soil. This time, dry soil was bot available as there was incessant rain from October 2 to 11 last year.

In the second spell, there was heavy rainfall on 27th to 29th of the same month. Soil started drying from November.

Cyclone Bulbul arrived and marred all hopes as the soil again turned wet in seven districts including Burdwan. As a result, sowing of potato got delayed.

Finally, sowing started in the third week of November.

But the situation started turning grim with a few spells of drizzle in areas where potato cultivation takes place as it increases the chances of the product getting damaged due to late blight.

Taking proactive measures, the state Agriculture department started conducting massive campaigns to let farmers know what steps should be taken to check the damage of crops due to late blight.

Besides issuing a series of advisories in newspapers, awareness was also created among farmers through radio, announcements in areas and distribution of leaflets.

The awareness campaign started in January and announcements are still continuing.

It has helped farmers in getting necessary tips on what to do in such a situation to save their crops.

As a result, it has helped to check the damage of crops and skyrocketing prices. Pradip Majumdar, Agriculture advisor to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said: "Already there was a delay in sowing due to the weather condition. Potato cultivation would have got adversely affected if it had been hit by late blight due to drizzle for some days in December and January. So awareness among farmers was essential and it has minimised the damage caused to the crop."

According to a senior official of the state Agriculture department, the situation was quite similar in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Delay in cultivation led to a hike in prices of the same in January when it had touched around Rs 20 per kg.

Potatoes cultivated in the last season were not supposed to remain stored in cold storages after December 2019. Considering the situation, the state government had given an extension for some weeks and it had helped in maintaining the supply of the same in the state's markets.