Indian gooseberry or amla farmers in Pratapgarh are a worried lot. The district in Uttar Pradesh is the world’s largest producer of this vitamin C-rich fruit but its cultivation is no longer profitable.

They say the number of farmers engaged in growing the fruit has halved and the area under cultivation has also shrunk. In fact, these are also tough times for traders dealing in finished and semi-finished products made out of the fruit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had praised the state government for launching One District One Product (ODOP) scheme which was supposed to benefit amla farmers by enabling them to get a suitable price and market for their produce.

But a section of farmers here say they have got no help from the government.

“Around five to six years ago, the amla crop was grown on around 10,800 hectares — area which has now shrunk to less than 6000 hectares. In the past five to six years, the number of families engaged in the cultivation of the fruit reduced to around 6,000 from 10,200,” Atendra Singh, a farmer and president of the Amla Growers’ Association, said.

Singh said around 10 varieties of the fruit were grown in Pratapgarh and this year the price went up to Rs 8 per kilogram from Rs 2 to Rs 3 received by farmers per kilogram in 2017-18.

“This rise in the price of the fruit has nothing to do with the One District One Product (ODOP) scheme. The price rose due to lower production of the fruit in Rajasthan last year. Any farmer in Pratapgarh is a testimony to the fact that no government assistance is provided under the ODOP scheme or otherwise for selling Amla,” he said.

“Farmers bring their produce to the mandi (market) where wholesalers buy it, sell it to the loader or transporter who is the final authority to choose a desirable purchaser in the open. Nothing has changed for us under this government,” he added.

Failed projects

In the past, at least two industrial units have faced shut down in Pratapgarh amid political apathy affecting the lives of thousands in the district.

Auto Tractors Limited (ATL), the dream project of former Union minister Raja Dinesh Singh of Kalakankar estate, met a tragic end allegedly due to wrong political decisions.

Tractors and Auto Land Jeep engines were manufactured here and helped Pratapgarh earn a name all over the country. The factory, spread over 120 acres, functioned for 12 years since its inception in 1978. Workers at the factory toiled in three shifts.

But its abrupt closure in 1990 rendered around 2,000 workers jobless. The then UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav ordered its sale to a private firm which, in turn, sold the factory assets in parts.

“Hundreds of people working in the factory were rendered jobless overnight. Families did not have food for days together. Earlier, the economic condition of employees and other residents had improved due to the factory,” Pradeep Sharma, a resident of Pratapgarh, said.

Similarly, Suryabhan Singh, another resident, said politicians promised a revival of the factory during polls but never kept their word.

Pratapgarh had a tryst with another major industrial project as former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi laid the foundation of a sugar mill in Antu nearly 29 years ago. However, the project also failed to take off due to political infighting.

The contest

Pratapgarh parliamentary constituency is witnessing a triangular contest with Ratna Singh of the Congress, Sangam Lal Gupta of the BJP and Ashok Kumar Tripathi of the BSP in the fray.

The constituency has witnessed 15 Lok Sabha elections and the Congress has won the seat nine times. The Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Jana Sangh, the Janata Dal and the Apna Dal have won the seat once each.

The Pratapgarh Lok Sabha seat has assembly segments of Raniganj, Rampur Khas, Vishwanathganj, Patti and Pratapgarh.

It has a sizeable Muslim population. Brahmins and Thakurs are also an important part of the electorate here. Kurmis, an OBC community, are also quite influential. Apna Dal, which won the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, is popular among the community.

Voters in Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh have not elected the same party twice after 1989.

First Published: May 10, 2019 17:10 IST