India: Punjab potato farmers angry over storage situation
Potato farmers in Bathinda, Punjab, are disgruntled at what they say is exploitation at the hands of cold store owners and private dealers; they claim that they are being denied space in cold storage facilities by the owners,
They claimed that by not storing the produce, the owners wanted to bring on a sharp fall in the rates so that these private buyers could purchase potatoes and sell them at higher prices later.
Members of the BKU Krantikari met the Deputy Commissioner to discuss the matter a week ago with no success. The Deputy Commissioner was then set to meet members of the farmer union and the cold storage owners to find out a solution by Saturday 26 March.
BKU Krantikari Bathinda president Surmukh Singh said, “We have been spending nights in front of cold stores for more than a week but there is no solution to the problem. Cold store owners have refused space for storing our produce. They claim that they don’t have space as it is booked by private potato dealers. If this is correct then the market committee should intervene, conduct raids and charge these private buyers the market fee, which is 9 per cent. These buyers purchase potatoes at cheaper rates from farmers and store them in these cold stores to sell them at higher prices later. The price of potatoes had gone down to Rs 200, whereas only three weeks ago, it was above Rs 350 per bag.”
As the cold storage industry remains decontrolled, the storage cost for potato has increased almost by 100 per cent last year.
Earlier, the cold storage rentals were fixed either under the Central Cold Storage Order, 1980, or the Acts enacted by the state governments.
(1 Indian Rupee=0.015 USD)
Source: tribuneindia.com
Fuente: http://www.freshplaza.com/article/155686/Punjab-potato-farmers-angry-over-storage-situation
