Vegetable rich Odisha, farmers hit by distress

BHUBANESWAR: Despite being the seventh largest producer with highest per capita consumption of vegetables in the country, Odisha still depends largely on other states to meet its vegetable requirements thanks to the apathy of the state government towards creating infrastructure for scientific storage of surplus production.

The state is ranked first in the production of sweet potato, second in brinjal, fifth in watermelon, cauliflower, okra, tomato, and sixth in bottle gourd at national level as per horticulture area production information system (HAPIS) report for 2019-20.

Bumper production of crops is music to the ears but inadequate infrastructure and marketing support has led to farm distress in the state. Depressed over the plummeting farm gate price, a Bargarh farmer recently ran tractor over his cabbage harvest, is a case in point.

The Bargarh incident was a repeat of 1999 when farmers in many parts of the state opened their fields for cattle to graze as there were no buyers for their produce. The state had a bumper crop of cabbage and cauliflower that fateful year which witnessed one of the worst catastrophe in super cyclone.

As the news hit national headlines, a concerned NDA government under the leadership of Atal Behari Vajpayee took a policy decision to provide 50 per cent subsidy on construction of cold storage in private sector. Many states including neighbouring West Bengal grabbed the opportunity and expanded their cold storage capacity to the maximum while Odisha stuck in politicking.

The Biju Janata Dal in its 2014 election manifesto had promised to construct at least one cold storage in each of the 314 blocks. While this remained unfulfilled, the 26 cold storages came up in private sectors after the launch of State Potato Mission in 2014-15, which are now on the brink of shutting down due to lack of business.

“The farmers of the state are victim of the demand-supply dynamics that rule the market. Prices of vegetables plummet during harvest and surge during the lean period. In the absence of warehouse and storage facility and market linkage farmers get less for the produce while end consumers pay more that 400 times of the farm gate price,” said Odisha Byabasayee Mahasangha general secretary Sudhakar Panda.

If the government could spend hundreds of crores for organising sporting events in the state, construction of 300 cold storages is not a big thing. The government has neither any focus on agriculture on which over 70 per cent of the population depends nor it has any work plan to market its farm produce, he added.

Acknowledging the warehouse problem, a senior officer of the Horticulture department said some of the vegetables could not be stored as they are perishable. What is needed is that the farmers have to cultivate those vegetables in a staggering manner instead of doing it in large scale at one go.

STORAGE PROBLEM

BJD in its 2014 election manifesto promised to construct at least one cold storage in each of the 314 blocks, which remains unfulfilled
26 cold storages that came up in private sectors in 2014, are now on the brink of shutting down
Many states including WB have expanded their cold storage capacity to the maximum

BHUBANESWAR: Despite being the seventh largest producer with highest per capita consumption of vegetables in the country, Odisha still depends largely on other states to meet its vegetable requirements thanks to the apathy of the state government towards creating infrastructure for scientific storage of surplus production. The state is ranked first in the production of sweet potato, second in brinjal, fifth in watermelon, cauliflower, okra, tomato, and sixth in bottle gourd at national level as per horticulture area production information system (HAPIS) report for 2019-20. Bumper production of crops is music to the ears but inadequate infrastructure and marketing support has led to farm distress in the state. Depressed over the plummeting farm gate price, a Bargarh farmer recently ran tractor over his cabbage harvest, is a case in point. The Bargarh incident was a repeat of 1999 when farmers in many parts of the state opened their fields for cattle to graze as there were no buyers for their produce. The state had a bumper crop of cabbage and cauliflower that fateful year which witnessed one of the worst catastrophe in super cyclone. As the news hit national headlines, a concerned NDA government under the leadership of Atal Behari Vajpayee took a policy decision to provide 50 per cent subsidy on construction of cold storage in private sector. Many states including neighbouring West Bengal grabbed the opportunity and expanded their cold storage capacity to the maximum while Odisha stuck in politicking. The Biju Janata Dal in its 2014 election manifesto had promised to construct at least one cold storage in each of the 314 blocks. While this remained unfulfilled, the 26 cold storages came up in private sectors after the launch of State Potato Mission in 2014-15, which are now on the brink of shutting down due to lack of business. “The farmers of the state are victim of the demand-supply dynamics that rule the market. Prices of vegetables plummet during harvest and surge during the lean period. In the absence of warehouse and storage facility and market linkage farmers get less for the produce while end consumers pay more that 400 times of the farm gate price,” said Odisha Byabasayee Mahasangha general secretary Sudhakar Panda. If the government could spend hundreds of crores for organising sporting events in the state, construction of 300 cold storages is not a big thing. The government has neither any focus on agriculture on which over 70 per cent of the population depends nor it has any work plan to market its farm produce, he added. Acknowledging the warehouse problem, a senior officer of the Horticulture department said some of the vegetables could not be stored as they are perishable. What is needed is that the farmers have to cultivate those vegetables in a staggering manner instead of doing it in large scale at one go. STORAGE PROBLEM BJD in its 2014 election manifesto promised to construct at least one cold storage in each of the 314 blocks, which remains unfulfilled 26 cold storages that came up in private sectors in 2014, are now on the brink of shutting down Many states including WB have expanded their cold storage capacity to the maximum