Muktsar: Kinnow fetching only Rs 10/kg, fruit growers disheartened

Tribune News Service

Archit Watts

Muktsar, November 24

Kinnow growers in the region are a worried lot as their input costs have increased sharply but the fruit prices are still almost the same as 15 years ago. Presently, the produce is fetching Rs 7-12 per kg in the wholesale market. Surprisingly, the prices were almost the same about 15 years ago. Fresh kinnow arrives in the market from the months of November to March.

Rs 45-50K annual per acre input cost

• Balwinder Singh Tikka, a kinnow grower, said: “Pesticide, labour and transportation costs and diesel prices have also increased manifold while the fruit is only fetching Rs 10 per kg in the wholesale market.
• Mohit Setia, an orchardist from Fazilka district, said: “The annual per acre input cost was Rs 30,000 just two years ago. This has now increased to Rs 45,000 to 50,000.”

Abul Khurana village resident Balwinder Singh Tikka, a kinnow grower who was also awarded by the state, said: “The input costs have increased multiple times but the fruit is fetching very low prices in the market.”

He added: “The pesticide, once available at Rs 100, is now being sold at Rs 500. Potash, once available for Rs 100, now costs Rs 500. Labour and transportation costs and diesel prices have also increased manifold. However, kinnow is still fetching average Rs 10 per kg in the wholesale market.”

Ajay Wadhwa, spokesperson, Sher-e-Punjab Kisan Union, said: “I have been a fruit grower for the last 40 years. No state government has done anything to stop the monopoly of traders. The growers are entirely dependent on traders. They have made a cartel, fix the prices and we have to sell the produce to them at the price fixed by them.” He added: “In contrast, the Haryana Government is providing the benefit of the Mukhyamantri Bhavantar Bharpayee Yojana and the Horticulture Insurance Scheme.”

“Even ‘chibad’ is fetching more price than kinnow. If we go by the figures, we are not even earning equal to paddy growers and the state government is talking about crop diversification,” Wadhwa said.

Advocate Mohit Setia, an orchardist from Fazilka district, said: “The annual per acre input cost was Rs 30,000 just two years ago. It has increased to Rs 45,000 to 50,000.”

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