The comparatively low prices of mustard and potato this season have disheartened the farmers, especially the mustard growers after good prices last year. However, the area under mustard cultivation has significantly expanded this year in the district.
Last year, mustard fetched a price of Rs 7,000 per quintal the highest compared to the opening purchase price of around Rs 4,500 per quintal this year, the farmers said.
The potato growers too reported a significant fall in the price this year. The farmers stated that in the Amritsar district, mostly Pukhraj variety of potato is sown. They claimed that last year the crop fetched a price of over Rs 900 per quintal which has fallen to nearly Rs 500 per quintal this year.
To this, the farmers added that fixing a minimum support price (MSP) for these crops is the need of an hour as currently, these depend on the notion and fancies of the private buyers.
Supinder Singh, one of the farmers said, “It is not understandable that these crops are yielding low prices even as the prices of mustard oil and potatoes have risen for the consumers,”
Harmandeep Singh Chohan, a farmer from Chohan village near Jandiala said, “The farmers have failed to recover their input cost this season. The input costs on seeds, fertilizers, chemicals, and labour are approximately Rs 45,000 per acre for potatoes and this does not include the rent on the land. If that too is included the cost will further increase.”
Singh said that most well-to-do farmers are storing their produce in cold storage hoping that the prices would rise. Surinder Singh, another farmer added, “This can be done only by farmers who have other sources of income and are not in dreadful need of money.”
Farmer leader Dr. Satnam Singh Ajnala said, “When the private buyers form a cartel, the poor farmers have no option left but to sell the crops at their decided price. The farmer is the only one who does not have any say in fixing the price of his commodity. This is the reason why we demand a minimum support price for crops other than wheat and rice.”
