India: Potato farmers hit by untimely rains and labour shortage

 Even though things looked up in terms of stable prices

due to limited supply, the potato crop was hit by untimely rains and problem

of labour shortage at some places due to the lockdown.

As per estimates, area under potato in Punjab shrunk by around 35% this

time as many farmers decided to shift to other crops disillusioned by

previous losses. With a similar scenario in other states, including Uttar

Pradesh – the largest potato growing state, there is a shortage of potato in

the market and potato growers hope to get better prices.

Presently, the last lots of potato stocks are being moved to the cold storage

in Punjab. Besides, harvesting of spring potato in some areas will continue

through April.

Jang Bahadur Singh Sangha, secretary general of Confederation of Potato

Seed Farmers, said, “The rains delayed the season this time and it was a

critical situation with the temperature rising. But the state government

intervened timely to allow agriculture-related movement during the

lockdown. As a result, we did not face much labour shortage.”

However, the potato cultivation might have been hit as many farmers had

run into huge losses in the previous seasons and many had shifted to wheat.

On the other hand, Darbara Singh Samra, a potato farmer from Nawanpind

village in Jalandhar, said he had lost almost 70% of his crop due to untimely

rains and labour shortage due to the lockdown. “It was a tough job to find

labour and the crop was spoilt at many places due to the inclement weather.

We have suffered huge losses this time too,” he said.

However, the potato farmers did not face problem of cold storage as there

was no glut in the state. “The downward trend for potato farmers is being

linked to demonetisation. I remember we had to dump 450 bags of potato in

2018 just to recycle the gunny bags for the next season,” said Samra.

The silver lining this time, added Sangha, is that prices of potato are stable

because of a shortage-like situation due to lesser supply. “The good thing is

that stocks were handled in time. Things were much worse last time due to

rains during harvest time. This season, the downpour was not as harsh,” he

said.

Presently, potato is being sold in markets like Delhi for Rs 800 per 50kg even

though the farmer will get much lesser price for the produce. Last year,

potato growers had claimed that they had been unable to recover their cost

of production and harvesting as their produce sold at Rs 3 per kg.

Traditionally, Punjab has over 96,000 hectares under potatoes. Doaba region

that produces potato seed for other states and growers had not got good

14/4/2020 Potato farmers hit by untimely rains and labour shortage problem in Punjab | Chandigarh News - Times of India returns for their produce in the past three years.