March 22: The potato crop in Farrukhabad and Kanauj, Uttar Pradesh's main potato growing districts, looks set to repeat the onion story, registering a sharp 35 per cent decline in production this season. Uttar Pradesh produces almost 40 per cent of the entire potato crop in the country.Senior officals in the state agriculture department admit that inclement weather in November-December last year has played havoc with the potato crop. The wholesale markets in the state, barometers of the crop output, have already started registering steep increases in the prices of potatoes, which have gone up to Rs 300-400 per quintal in the initial phase.
The prices are expected to soar further as news of a bad potato harvest spread.
According to preliminary indications available, the yield of potatoes is expected to be in the vicinity of 11 lakh quintals in Farrukhabad and KAnauj compared to a record production of 15 lakh quintals last year in these districts.
In fact, state government officials maintain thatwidespread rains and inclement weather are not the only factors responsible for the poor potato harvest this year.
Instead, they are inclined to believe that farmers were reluctant to go for potato farming this year on account of the numerous problems they faced with last year's bumper potato harvest.
One of the gravest of these problems was inadequate storage facilities. It may be mentioned that last year, potato production in Uttar Pradesh had crossed the 85 lakh quintals mark. In contrast to this, the state had cold storage facilities for a mere 29 lakh quintals. And though the state government made attempts to alleviate the problem by proposing to buy 5.80 lakh quintals of potatoes, the move proved to be a non-starter largely on account of the fact that the farmers found the price of Rs 130 per quintal fixed by the government extremely unremunerative.
Not surprsingly, therefore, the state government was able to procure only a minuscule 5,780 quintals of potatoes under the scheme.
In addition, theefforts of the authorities to revive cold storage units in the state to augment capacity by an additional 20 lakh quintals also proved insufficient. As a result, farmers had to resort to distress sales of their crop and in some cases had to leave the crop to rot. Officials of the state agriculture department concede that the high yield last year was in inverse proportion to prices, which registered a record low in that period.
On the flip side, however, potato's loss has been wheat's gain since farmers have utilised land normally under potato cover to sow late-sowing varieties of wheat instead. As far as potatoes are concerned, state officials are consoling themselves with the rationale that things could have been much worse on the potato front had the spell of inclement weather struck in December-January. But for now, all eyes are fixed on the spiralling potato price index. Officials are hoping that there will be no repeat of the onion fiasco.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
