Vegetable growers in lower Kangra face financial distress, forced to sell produce at throwaway prices

Vegetable growers in the lower Kangra region, especially in Indora and Nurpur subdivisions, are being compelled to sell their produce at throwaway prices in the local wholesale markets. The returns on vegetable sales are so poor that farmers are unable to recover even the cost of inputs and hence are experiencing financial distress.

Growers, along with commission agents, have expressed concern over the unchecked influx of vegetable-laden tempos from neighbouring Punjab. They allege that traders and vendors from other states are selling vegetables directly to consumers in local markets, bypassing the mandis. This practice, they say, has led to a crash in vegetable prices, dealing a severe blow to the livelihood of local farmers and the agrarian economy of the region.

Seasonal vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, radish, turnip, spinach and coriander are produced in the lower areas of Kangra district. Farmers used to sell their bumper crop yield in the local wholesale vegetable markets. The growers are making losses after selling their produce at throwaway prices and are unable to recover even the input cost. A large number of vehicles laden with vegetables and fruits from neighbouring Punjab entre the interstate border areas of Nurpur, Indora, Fatehpur and Jawali subdivisions of Kangra district. They sell vegetables at cheap rates to consumers on their doorsteps, leading to a sharp decline in the demand and prices of vegetables and fruits in the local wholesale mandis.

Commission agents running their businesses in the wholesale vegetable markets allege that if they buy vegetables from Punjab and bring to Himachal Pradesh, their vehicles are checked at the interstate market committee checkpoints and full tax is collected from them but outsiders bringing vegetables in transport vehicles to the area are not checked and no penalties are levied on them. “As a result, the vendors from other states are violating tax rules and selling vegetables directly to consumers, causing revenue loss to the state exchequer and a drastic decline in demand in the local mandis,” he laments.

Ravinder Guleria, president of the Commission Agents’ Association at Jassur vegetable market in Nurpur, says that the authorities concerned should take immediate action to stop vendors from other states from selling vegetables and fruits directly to the consumers and save the economy of commission agents.

Overall, local farmers are being badly affected due to an uncontrolled inflow of vegetables and fruits from other states and weak monitoring systems. If concrete steps are not taken in time, it can have a direct impact on vegetable production and the livelihood of farmers.

Shagun Sood, secretary, Kangra district Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), says that the government had in 2014 exempted outsiders entering the state from paying the market fee while the APMC could collect the fee only in the market yards of Himachal. “But in view of the gravity of the situation now, the state market committee board has recommended to the state government to re-impose this fee,” she adds.

Caption: A three-wheeler laden with vegetables enters the Nurpur area for selling vegetables directly to the consumers on Friday. Tribune photo