Thaindian News

Agra, Sep 13 (IANS) Farmers in the potato-growing belt of Agra region, which accounts for more than 30 percent of the country’s yield, are in peril as market prices continue to fall below the cost of cultivation. A bumper summer crop has not helped as they are under pressure from cold storages to move their stocks fast.

A 45-year-old potato grower, Tota Ram, hanged himself to death last week in the Akola block of Agra district. Villagers said he was under heavy debt and unremunerative market prices left him in distress.

Cultivators are also under acute stress as cold storages — totalling 750 in the districts of Mathura, Firozabad, Etah, Mainpuri, and Agra — have asked them to lift their stocks fast.

“But we are not able to even break even,” farmer Yashpal from Khandauli block, which boasts of the highest yield and the best quality in India, told IANS. “The scenario is really grim.”

In February this year, showers and hail destroyed part of the crops, but the summer yield has been bumper and cold storages are full.

“This year Uttar Pradesh Horticulture Minister Narayan Singh arranged for the sale of potatoes in Mumbai and bulk purchase by groups like Reliance,” according to the Agra Cold Storage Association.

“But our yield has been good and there is hardly any scope for its absorption in national markets as potatoes from areas like Karnataka and West Bengal have already flooded markets.”

Farmers say cold storage owners are pressurising them to lift their stocks soon. But since there is no demand, the prices could crash if the supply is increased. Further, they are distressed with storage fees being hiked from Rs. 120 to Rs. 140 a quintal.

“All kinds of additional levies in the name of term loan, depreciation and power tariff hike are being collected from farmers,” says Mukhtiar Singh of the Aloo Utpadak Kisan Samiti. “The district magistrate should intervene.”

The real problem is the gap between yield cost and market price. “Earlier the Agra potato ruled the markets, but there is a glut after the entry of Gujarat, Karnataka, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh,” Ajit Singh of Firozabad says.

“Last year, a 50-kg bag fetched around Rs. 450 to Rs. 500. Now the prices have fallen to Rs. 250 to Rs. 270. Cultivators, in the hope good profit, stocked their yield. This could really lead to misery for the farmers,” he adds.

After a high of Rs. 340 per 50 kg in May, the price has come down to below Rs. 250, according to Singh. Barely 40 percent of the stocks from cold storages have reached markets this year. The remaining 60 percent could bring down prices to Rs. 150.

“Earlier, much of Agra potatoes used to be consumed in Maharashtra and Karnataka and other southern states, but now Hassan has recorded a bumper yield and farmers are reaching out to the north,” says Hathras farmer Sachchendra Kumar Singh.

“It is such an irony. A country with so many malnourished children can easily use the huge yield to balance dietary regimes,” says Ravi Singh of Barauli Aheer block.

“The government should have gone for processing units, converting potato into powder or other forms. Agra, which has the highest yield, should have been the centre of research and processing units,” he adds.

Meanwhile, potato politics has intensified. A group representing Agra cold storages, led by the local MP, has met some central ministers to press for withdrawal of subsidy to cold storages because it led to more storages coming up.

This has angered the farmers because they could use more such storages. “A Rs. 50-lakh subsidy to one cold storage had resulted in the opening of many more in the region,” Nemi Chand Jadaun, a farmer of Khandauli block, told IANS.

Storage owners do not want an increase in number as they fear competition will eat into profits and make many units unviable. Farmers say if subsidy is withdrawn, potato will sell for Rs. 20 a kilo.

The Uttar Pradesh government tried in vain last year to lure venture capitalists into financing vodka distilleries and units for making potato chips. A local MLA has started working on a processing project in the Agra belt.

Expressing concern at falling rates, the Kisan Sabha Sunday urged the centre and state governments to buy directly from farmers and supply potato-based food items to students through the mid-day meal network.

The king of vegetables, a staple in most Indian diets, might be going cheap but growers are hardly thrilled.

(Brij Khandelwal can be contacted at brij.k@ians.in)