Punjab potato glut triggers price crash

Sarbjit Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 29

With the potato price touching an almost all-time low in the market, farmers are crying for help. In the wholesale market, the price of potatoes has come down to Rs 200 per quintal. Last year, it was about Rs 1,000 per quintal.

The rate of potato seed has also come down to Rs 500-600 per quintal where as during the corresponding period last year, it was in the range of Rs 1,200-1,500 per quintal. Punjab is one of the leading potato seed producers in the country. In fact, 80 per cent of potato produced in Punjab goes as seed to other states such as West Bengal and the remaining goes to the open market for sale.

“Cold store owners are reluctant to stock potatoes in their stores because they fear that farmers would not return to reclaim it due to the fall in the prices,” said Sukhjit Singh Bhatti, a leading potato grower from Jalandhar. “For stocking one quintal of potatoes for a season, farmers need to pay Rs 75 as rent to the cold store. As there is no chance of the price going up, it will not be viable for farmers to lift the stock from the cold stores and sell it in the market,” said another potato grower.

This happened some years ago too. On seeing the farmers not returning to take back their produce, store owners had to discard it on the roadside to clear their stores.

A top potato grower, Jang Bahadur Singh, said that last time, farmers got a good return. So, they increased the area under potato crop this year in almost all potato-growing states, thus creating a glut in the national market. To add to it, the yield went up by 15% this year compared to last year, he said. Besides Punjab, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh have good yields, almost 20% more than last year. Even Pakistan, which imported a substantial stock of potatoes from India last year, has a bumper crop this time.

"In fact, Pakistan is exporting potatoes to Afghanistan and other adjoining countries this year. Russia, which used to buy some stock earlier, has stopped it due to a big fall in the value of their currency," said Bhatti.  “In view of the overall situation, there is no chance of a hike in the price,” he said. 

The West Bengal Government has offered a freight subsidy of up to Re 1 per kg to allow farmers to transport the produce to needy states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The Gujarat Government has also announced a freight subsidy of Rs 1.50 per kg. Punjab Agriculture Minister Tota Singh said he was aware that potato growers were facing a tough situation. “I will discuss the issue with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal,” he said.

It costs Rs 4.50-Rs 5 per kg as freight to send potatoes from Punjab to Bangalore. “As the temperature has started shooting up, it is not safe to transport it through rail rakes. We supplied potatoes to some states in the South in recent past,” he said.