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Potato Farmers
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday targeted Mamata Benerjee, his counterpart in neighbouring West Bengal, and the previous BJD government for the potato crisis in the state. Not self-sufficient in potato production, Odisha depends a lot on West Bengal for its requirement for the tuber and faces problems when the neighbouring state stops supplying the produce to cater to its home demand. While addressing an agricultural event here, Majhi and Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo slammed Benerjee for the potato scarcity in Odisha. Facing potato crisis in Odisha, we have talked to Mamata Didi, but in vain. She settles a score on us at the appropriate time. There is no mamata' (affection) in Mamata Didi for Odisha, Majhi said. The CM, however, did not elaborate on how Banerjee is settling a score. The chief minister also blamed the previous BJD government which he accused of failing to make Odisha self-sufficient in potato and onion production. During the last six month
Potato traders of West Bengal threatened to go on strike on Tuesday if the state government does not lift restrictions on selling to other states. West Bengal recently re-imposed curbs on selling potatoes to neighbouring states in an effort to control the prices in the local markets. Potatoes are retailing at Rs 35-40 per kg in the local markets. Following the decision of the state government, police have intensified surveillance at inter-state borders to prevent the transportation of potatoes out of the state. This has led to several trucks being stranded at border crossings. "We will go on strike from Tuesday if the government does not lift the restrictions," Progressive Potato Traders' Association secretary Lalu Mukherjee told PTI. He criticised the government's decision, stating, "Such abrupt measures disrupt our business and cause huge losses as we fail to fulfil commitments." Traders and cold storage associations blamed the state government for failing to control prices in t
Potato growers of Punjab are staring at heavy losses on account of very low prices they are fetching for their produce and urged the state government to extend help in this tough time. According to growers, they are getting Rs 4-4.50 per kg for the produce as against Rs 17 to 18 per kg received last year. With the farmers being unable to recover their input cost due to low prices, they are storing it in cold storage in anticipation of prices rising in the coming months. Punjab this season brought 1.14 lakh hectares of area under the tuber crop and registered a bumper output of 31.50 lakh metric tonnes. Punjab is the largest producer of seed potatoes and supplies the crop to many states including West Bengal, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar, Assam, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. According to farmers, prices have crashed due to a bumper crop in other potato-growing states. "Rates of potatoes crashed at the start of this season. It is because of bumper crop in potato growing states in the
The Centre today decided to purchase around 100,000 tonnes of potatoes from Uttar Pradesh farmers in 2016-17 season at Rs 4,870 per tonne to arrest the sharp fall in prices.According to an official statement released today, the government will give an extra Rs 1,217.60 per tonne or actual whichever is less for overhead expenses, such as transportation charges, mandi tax and godown charges to farmers.A decision to procure potato in UP under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) has been approved by the Union Agriculture Ministry. The MIS will be implemented by the state agency, the statement added. Potato rates in Uttar Pradesh, the leading producer, have crashed in the wake of likely bumper crop. As per trade data, the wholesale price of potatoes have fallen below Rs 4 per kg now as against 10-12/kg in the year-ago period.Earlier, the state had decided to purchase a record eight million tonnes of wheat from farmers in 2017-18 crop marketing year and also announced a mega around Rs ...