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Amid glut, UP farmers sell potatoes at dirt cheap prices
Cold storages deny space; the problem has arisen due to overproduction of the crop in the state that alone accounts for nearly 35% of the country’s total potato production
LUCKNOW While consumers may still be buying potatoes at ₹12-15 a kg in most of the markets of UP, farmers are compelled to sell potatoes to wholesalers for a price that is said to be below the production cost.
The problem has arisen due to overproduction of the crop in the state that alone accounts for nearly 35% of the country’s total potato production. As a result, most of the cold storages are denying space to potatoes even as the government claims that cold storages still have enough space to store potatoes, said people aware of the issue.
“End consumers are still buying potatoes at a higher price despite farmers selling it for a song in mandis. This is because of the involvement of so many middlemen in the chain, apart from some other reasons,” said Atul Pathak of Annapurna Cold Storage, Kannauj.
“Due to a glut in production this year, rates have crashed and most of the cold storages are already packed to their capacity, unable to take any more potato bags,” he added.
Om Prakash Saxena, a potato grower and former pradhan of Bijadharpur village panchayat in Farukhabad, said farmers were forced to resort to distress sale of potatoes as cold storages were denying space.
“We are selling potatoes far below the production cost, which comes to around ₹700 per quintal,” he said. He also did not rule out the possibility of some cold storages indulging in unfair practices of buying potatoes from mandis at a lower price and storing the same with a view to selling it later when the rates go up.
“It is for the government to look into this aspect of the problem,” he demanded.
Aware of the problem, the government has decided to buy average quality potatoes from farmers at ₹650 per quintal for a month in a select number of potato-growing districts like Kannauj, Farukkhabad, Agra, Etah, Kasganj and Mainpuri in the first phase so that farmers do not have to go for distress sale. But the government is yet to announce the date to start the purchase, and this is adding to farmers’ anxiety.
“The government should immediately start potato purchase because the potato season will be over in less than a month and farmers cannot wait more,” said Ahok Singh, a potato farmer and BJP leader in Kannauj.
Farmers and cold storage owners believe that the situation may worsen for farmers in the days to come, if the government fails to buy potatoes directly from farmers under the market intervention scheme (MIS), as announced three days ago.
“The situation is still not that bad and many cold storages do have capacity left, but things may get worse if the government does not aggressively buy potatoes from farmers at the earliest,” said Dinesh Agrawal of Shyam Cold Storage of Kannauj.
Agriculture production commissioner, Manoj Kumar Singh, said the government is taking various steps to help farmers get a better price. “Apart from deciding to buy potatoes from farmers, we are also trying to export more of it to southern states and Nepal, where rates are high. We are also ensuring that cold storages store only farmers’ potatoes rather than their own,” he said.
“These steps have already started pushing potato prices and that is our main objective,” he added.
