Tinsukia farmers seek government intervention amid sharp fall in potato prices

OUR CORRESPONDENT

TINSUKIA: Potato farmers in Tinsukia's Sadiya co-district are up-in arms about abrupt fall in potato prices after buyers (alleged middlemen) refused to purchase the produce as per Tinsukia market price. It led to a mass protest with tons of potatoes thrown on the road on Monday. The farmers demanded that the supply of potatoes from outside Assam be temporarily halted to facilitate local purchase.

While a reconciliation meeting convened by the Tinsukia district administration on Tuesday discussed some core issues, with Jabed Arman, District Development Commissioner, Tinsukia, in the chair, further discussions will be held after the new District Commissioner assumes charge.

According to information, the potato wholesale traders in Tinsukia engage middlemen to supply the seeds to the farmers and so also procure the produce from the same farmers with more than 100 to 150 percent profit margin. Sadiya potato being better than the Punjab and West Bengal variety used to fetch higher prices in the local market. As the production of potato has been very high in Sadiya belt and more than the market demand, the wholesalers in Tinsukia declined to offer reasonable prices leading to unprecedented loss to the potato growers.

While marginal growers who purchased seeds directly without the involvement of brokers incurred fewer losses this time, the big farmers and their dependent farmers are now in severe debt.

Mousom Buragohain, an enterprising farmer from Sadiya, said that potato seeds were sold to them at an inflated rate of Rs 3000 for a 50-kg bag. A good harvest generally yields more than 100 kilos per bag. This year, private buyers have offered Rs 6-7 per kilo, which is a massive reduction in procurement prices from earlier years. With only 30 percent being harvested so far, the rest still remained un-harvested in the field, said Buragohain. He stated that the Government must evolve a regulatory mechanism involving all stakeholders from procurement of seeds to buying of produce so that the interest of local farmers is protected with establishment of cold storage.

Also Read: Assam: Workshop on protection of plant varieties and farmers’ rights held in Tinsukia