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Price crash hits potato growers, crops dumped on roads
Harjinder Singh, a farmer from Saidowal village in Hoshiarpur district, said, “Local potato traders are offering ₹3.20 per kg
A bumper potato harvest has triggered a price crash, leaving farmers in distress as the produce is fetching as low as ₹3–4 per kg — far below their input costs.
Farmers say their production cost is nearly ₹8–9 per kg, making it impossible to recover even basic expenses at current prices. Meanwhile, potatoes continue to retail at ₹15–25 per kg, highlighting a wide gap between farm-gate and consumer rates. Facing heavy losses, many farmers have dumped their produce on roads in protest.
Harjinder Singh, a farmer from Saidowal village in Hoshiarpur district, said, “Local potato traders are offering ₹3.20 per kg. Our input cost is around ₹65,000 to ₹80,000 per acre. This means we will get around ₹50,000 to ₹60,000 per acre.”
Experts said this year, due to high yield and low demand across the northwest and northeast region, the prices have crashed in major potato-growing areas.
“With old stocks from the previous season also entering the markets, potato prices are likely to remain low in the coming weeks. Additionally, the absence of a minimum support price (MSP) for the crop also makes farmers vulnerable to sharp price fluctuations,” an expert, who didn’t wish to be named, said.
This year, potato was cultivated on 1.25 lakh hectares in Punjab. Key growing districts include Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala. Currently, potatoes are being purchased at around ₹235-250 for 50kg by traders.
Nirmal Singh, a farmer from Narmana village in Nabha block of Patiala district, said he and others had entered into a contract with a private company that promised to procure a specific potato variety at ₹10/kg.
“The company is not buying the produce. Local trader is buying the produce between ₹3 and ₹4. We are in distress, and the Punjab government should intervene,” he said.
Farmer unions have also demanded immediate government intervention.
Jagtar Singh of BKU (Ekta Dakunda) said potato farmers in the state are facing losses.
“The Punjab government should, through cooperative societies like Markfed, buy the crop from farmers to save them,” he added.
Agriculture expert Devinder Sharma emphasised the need for structural reforms. “Minimum support price (MSP) is the only solution to save farmers from losses. Kerala has already fixed MSP for 16 vegetables. This model is helping farmers there,” he said.
Agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian acknowledged the issue and said, “I will write to the Union government to provide compensation to Punjab potato farmers.” He added that there is currently no provision for state agencies to procure potatoes directly from farmers.
