Lucknow: First bad weather and now the soaring rates of seeds, the potato farmers in Uttar Pradesh are on the receiving end of bad news.
The incessant rains had devastated the newly sown crop of early variety and now when the farmers are gearing up for re-sowing, the high rates of seeds are making them jittery. In the crop season, the farmers are forced to buy potato seeds at two-times higher rates than previous years. Potato seed are being sold for Rs 50-60 in the open market this year as compared to Rs 18-22 earlier. Crop area of potato is set to reduce this year due to the high rates of seeds and bad weather.
Shattered hopes with incessant rains
The heavy rains in October has shattered the hopes of potato farmers in UP who were expecting a good harvest. The newly-sown crop were destroyed leaving large number of farmers to opt for other Rabi crops such as mustard and masoor.
Seeing the high rates of seeds, the farmers in UP have been demanding intervention of the state government. It may be mentioned that the state government had arranged potato seeds for Rs 32 per kilogram at selected centers last year.
In the sowing season this year, Chipsona, Kufri, Lalima, Chandramukhi and Badshah variety of potato seeds are in great demand. According to traders, these varieties of seeds are selling at Rs 50-62 per kg. Earlier, the same variety of potato seeds were sold for Rs 18-22 per kg.
High cost of production
According to farmers, besides the high rate of seeds, the cost of other items such as fertiliser and insecticides have also increased. Due to heavy rains in October, the soil was not ready for the potato crop until now. The farmers were planning to sow late-variety seeds of potato this month but the rates have created another hindrance for them.
Mohit Singh, a potato farmer from Aligarh said that due to high rate of seeds people are shying away from this crop. It has been observed that when the seeds are costly the crop will be sold cheaper and this trend is bothering farmers. Agriculture expert Dr SK Singh said that because of high rates of seeds and poor weather conditions, the crop area in UP may reduce by 20 per cent this year. According to him, in the sowing season farmer needs four quintals of seed for one 'bigha' land. Adding labour, fertilizer and other items cost, the cost of potato production will soar this year. Besides, the farmers are not sure about the potato rates in near future and this has been keeping them away from sowing this year.
It may be mentioned that for the last three years there has been a record production of potato in UP. Last year UP had produced more than 175 lakh tonnes of potato.
