Punjab’s potato growers stare at loss for third year
Farmers want government to lift the ban on exporting potatoes to Pakistan, relief scheme for vegetables on lines of Haryana to brace for price slump
JALANDHAR: With 30% of last year’s potato produce still in cold storages for want of buyers in Punjab, the state’s potato farmers in Doaba are staring at a loss for the third year in a row.
The farmers want the government to lift the ban on exporting potatoes, particularly to neighbouring Pakistan, and are demanding a minimum support price (MSP) on the lines of Haryana for certain vegetables. Last year, the Haryana government had launched the Bhavantar Bharpai scheme or the price deficit compensation scheme for vegetables for potato, onion, cauliflower and tomato to ensure income of up to ₹48,000 to ₹56,000 per acre for farmers.
“If the government simply allows the export of potatoes to Pakistan, the problem can be solved and we (potato farmers) won’t have to face any loss,” says Jaswinder Singh Sangha, the general secretary of the Jalandhar Potato Growers Association (JPGA). “But if the government does not intervene, this will be the third consecutive year when farmers will protest by dumping their produce on roads,” he says.
After farmers from Doaba, the hub of potato and potato seed export, dumped their crop last year, the government bought the produce through the state’s marketing cooperative federation, Markfed, and used it in the midday meal for schoolchildren.
PROBLEM OF PLENTY
With 80,000 of the 86,000 hectares under potato cultivation, Doaba constitutes 93% of the state’s sown area of the crop. The region produces 25 metric tonnes of potato. There are 350 cold storages that are awaiting clearance to make way for the new crop.
Jugraj Singh, a potato grower, says there is a huge gap between the buying and selling price. “The crop that we sell for ₹3-₹4 a kg is available for ₹15 to ₹20 in the market. The government should come up with a policy to sort out our problem,” he says. Kuldeep Singh Dhot, a farmer from Kapurthala, fears the situation could be worse this season. “About 30% of last year’s potato crop is still in cold storages,” he says.
Satbir Singh, the deputy director of horticulture, says that potato is a perishable crop and the government can’t fix an MSP for it. “However, under its new initiative, the Centre is trying to export potatoes to Europe. Our department and the Central Potato Research Institute along with Punjab Agricultural University are doing research to make potatoes disease-free,” he says. Experts say potatoes are prone to brown rot disease and countries importing them want certified disease-free ones.
Satbir says Punjab and Gujarat have been selected for producing disease-free potatoes. Research on the project was conducted from 2012-15 and it will take two years more before the area is certified to produce potatoes fit for export.