The state of West Bengal accounts for about 40 percent of the total volume of potatoes produced
in India and is a leading exporter of potatoes to several other states. Potatoes are the primary
cash crop in West Bengal in terms of value added per acre, and have the highest acreage planted
among all winter crops in the two districts in our study, Hugli and West Medinipur (Bardhan
and Mookherjee 2011). They are planted between October and December, and harvested between
January and March. Farmers have a long time horizon over which they can sell their harvest:
they can be sold immediately at the time of harvest, or, if placed in home stores they can be
sold up to two or three months later. Alternatively they could be placed in cold stores, and then
the farmer has the option to sell them any time until November, when the new planting season
4
begins.