India: Lahaul farmers get good prices for potato crop

Less cultivation

Lahaul and Spiti district is known for seed potato cultivation but in the past few years, the farmers of the Lahaul valley have adopted diversification of crops to sustain their economy. As a result, the area under potato cultivation in the district has shrunk considerably.

At present, the farmers are harvesting the potato crop for sale in local and distant markets, while the seed potato harvesting season will begin at the end of September.

Farmers of the Lahaul valley say that earlier they sold their potato produce for Rs 1,600 per 50 kg bag in Lahaul and Spiti but now it is fetching Rs 1,300 per 50 kg bag. Last year, the price of a 50 kg bag of potatoes was Rs 900, which was quite low.

Anil Kumar, a farmer of Ranika village in the Patan valley, says, “In the Patan valley, the harvesting season of potato has started and the produce of the farmers is selling like hotcakes. Due to high demand in the local and distant markets, the farmers of the valley are able to sell their potato produce between Rs 1,300 and Rs 1,600 per 50 kg bag”.

“We are expecting good earnings this year from the potato crop if the prices remain stable in the local and distant markets. Most of the farmers in the valley are dependent on the cultivation of potato to sustain their livelihood,” he says.

Ramesh Kumar Rulba, president of the Zila Parishad Lahaul and Spiti, says, “It is a matter of happiness that the farmers of the valley are getting good prices for their agricultural produce in the district. Sudarshan Jaspa, chairperson of the Lahaul Potato Growers’ Society, has assured the farmers of the valley that they will purchase their seed potato produce at good prices”.

Jaspa says that the Lahaul seed potato is in big demand in Himachal as well as in other states. Their society will make all efforts to provide good prices to the farmers of the valley for their potato produce.