Another year of potato glut looms over farmers in Banaskantha

Palanpur: A spectre of having to dump tonnes and tonnes of potatoes once again looms large on farmers in Banaskantha, the highest producer of the tuber crop in Gujarat.
Even as harvesting of potatoes has picked up pace, a huge stock is still lying in the cold storages, especially in Deesa — the ‘potato bowl’ of the state.

According to sources, nearly 10 lakh bags (each containing 50kg potatoes) are lying in nearly 200 cold storages with farmers finding no buyers. The fresh stock has already started arriving in the markets. The glut has sent prices of the tuber crop crashing and last week it was being sold for as little as Re 1 per kg. On Wednesday, the prices improved slightly, but settled at Rs 6 per kg, said Sukhdeo Gehlot of the Cold Storage Owners Association in Deesa.

“If the same position persists, the stock will not be cleared by the second week of this month and prices will plummet further. Farmers will have no alternative but to repeat what they have been doing as a mark of protest — dump the stock on the roads or donate to cattle sheds (gaushala).

The upcountry advices are also not encouraging for the local farmers and traders who are under heavy debt. Potato growing states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab Haryana. Bengal, Rajasthan and others too have had a bumper crop this year.

“The demand from prospective buyers in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra has slumped in the last fortnight and rates have crashed to Rs 700 a quintal. It now barely fetches Rs 200 to Rs 400 per bag,” said Ganpat Kachhwa, an association member.

However, the agriculture department feels that the total cultivation of the crop has not been at par with 2018 when it was sown in 78,100 hectare. This year, the sowing has been done in 68,143 hectare only.

Deputy director of agriculture P K Patel attributed the decrease in potato sowing area to scanty rainfall and farmers preferring to grow fodder for their cattle.