In surplus, kinnow no more juicy for Punjab growers

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, January 7

Ranjit Singh, an orchardist from Bazidpur Bhoma village in Abohar, rues that he has uprooted his orchards on six acres after getting very low prices for his kinnow crop for the second consecutive year. He now intends to start paddy cultivation on this land as it will ensure him an assured return on the crop.

He is not the only kinnow grower going in for the wheat-paddy monoculture, bringing to a naught the efforts made by the state government and policy makers to diversify agriculture. With the kinnow crop in the state failing to get a decent price, courtesy a glut of the citrus fruit this year and lack of extension and marketing services to guide him on the best practises, the danger of many farmers switching over to wheat and paddy looms large.

Quality not good

There is a glut in the market. But the quality is also not good. Moreover, most growers do not grade and sort their produce before taking it to the market. Those who are doing it are getting a good price. —Shailender Kaur, Director, Horticulture, Punjab

“What else do we do?,” asks Sukhmandar Singh, another farmer from Abohar.

“Last year, I got Rs 25 per kg for kinnow. This year, the production is much higher and, as a result, the prices have fallen. I have sold my produce for just Rs 8 per kg. The low price realisation has barely taken into account the labour charges for plucking the fruit, which alone is Rs 6 per kg,” he rued.

Iqbal Singh, another farmer from Abohar, lamented that the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation should have intervened to help market the produce, but it is buying kinnows only from politically connected landlords, leaving small orchardists to fend for themselves.

Balwinder Singh, another orchardist from Malout, says that not only is there a glut of kinnow, oranges from Maharashtra too have flooded the market, hitting kinnow sales further.

“Kinnow from Punjab is exported to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Russia, but this year, the poor quality has hit the exports too. Thus the domestic market has high supply and low demand, leading to fall in the prices. Last year, too, the prices of kinnow improved only in January end,” he said.

About 60 per cent of the cultivation in the state happens in Abohar. Last year, because of floods in July and August, the weather played truant and the natural phenomenon of fruit droppings did not take place, claim officials in the state Horticulture Department.