Potato growers unhappy, buyers scarce

Potato growers unhappy, buyers scarce
Rajay Deep/TNS

Rampura Phul (Bathinda), March 30
Despite getting a bumper yield, potato growers of the Malwa region are an unhappy lot this season as in the absence of purchasers, they are now trapped in a glut-like situation, where the government is lending no help to them.

In the absence of any solution to the problem, the growers have opted for storing potatoes in cold stores but that measure, too, has remained insufficient to serve the purpose.
As the production has crossed the total capacity of storage, especially in the Rampura Phul subdivision of Bathinda district, which is the second biggest potato-producing belt in Punjab after Jalandhar, the cold store owners have now started closing their doors.
“Initially the cold-store owners charged me Rs 40 per bag for the storage but within a couple of weeks the rate has been revised to Rs 65 per bag,” alleged a farmer, Harbhagwan Singh, who was waiting for his turn outside a cold store.
Potato grower Gurcharan Singh of Lehra Mohabbat, who had placed 2,400 bags of potatoes in a cold store, said nearly 400 bags were still lying loaded in trolleys for the past four days but no store was accepting them giving an excuse of running out of capacity.
“In such situation, I am left with just one option -- dump the potatoes by the roadsides -- with the hope that the government will come out of the deep slumber and take an account of the situation,” lamented Gurcharan Singh.
Meanwhile, a farmer Nath Singh of Lehra Bega village said, “Though I was unwilling, finding no option, I have started taking potatoes to the vegetable market, Rampura, to sell these in retail as a hawker.
On the other hand, president of the Cold Stores’ Union Jasvir Singh said, “We all were open for the storage but when the capacity crosses its limits, we are helpless.
Secretary of the market committee, Rampura Phul, Vijay Kumar said, “We are well aware of the glut-like situation but things are not in our control as the yield was bumper and the main purchasers, who belong to other states, did not turn up this season.”