Facing glut, Deesa farmers dump potatoes in farms

Palanpur: Bumper potato crop has resulted in a glut, bringing down potato prices to Rs 2-3 per kg in Gujarat's potato hub Deesa in Banaskantha. The farmers in Deesa have started dumping the potatoes in farms as they do not have money to transport it to the market yard.

"The farmers have been put in a pitiable condition with no one willing to buy the potatoes even at Rs 3/kg. A 80kg sack of potato fetched a price of Rs 170. This is even lower than the cost of seeds and fertilizers that the farmers have incurred," president of Cold Storage Owners' Association, Deesa, Ganpat Kachwa said.

"While new sowing season begins next month (November), we have about 40% stock of potatoes lying in cold storages," he added.

There are about 200 cold storages in Banaskantha. "The situation is the same as in 2011 when the farmers and merchants had to dump thousands of kilograms of potatoes on roads," said Kachwa, raising concern over impact on farmers' income.

A leading farmer Kasturji Mali of Malgadh village of Deesa said, "Potato farmers are not getting Rs 2/kg. The traders at APMC Deesa are buying potatoes at Rs 3/kg, but we do not have money to transport the potatoes to the APMC from the farm."

Ishwarbhai Desai of Vadaval village said, "Government had announced subsidy of Re 1 for transportation of farm produce to market, but we are yet to receive it despite several reminders."

While the cultivation month (November) is nearing, cold storages in Deesa have hundreds sacks containing 50kg of potatoes each. Desai fears that potato cultivation in the coming season is likely to decrease by 20% as farmers and merchants are suffering financial losses since since last three years.

The potatoes were sown in 66,170 hectares last season with yield of 25,720 kg per hectare.