Keeping in view the present marketing trends and low availability of it in the market due to bad weather conditions, early disposal of hill potato by the farmers i.e. in August and September or soon after its harvesting that starts in July, may earn better returns for them.
The wholesale prices of the hill potato are expected to be in between Rs 1700 to Rs 1900 per quintal in August and September , while in October, 2013 the price will come down to Rs 1500-1600 per quintal, said the scientists of the G B Pant University of Agriculture Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar.
“Keeping in view the marketing trends that we have got after conducting a market survey of Haldwani regulated market, a major market for hill potato in the Uttarakhand, we appeal to the farmers to sell their produce in August and September instead of storing the same for October,” said Dr. Anil Kumar, Principal Investigator of this survey and a senior scientist of the GBPUAT.
The econometric analysis indicated that the wholesale prices of hill potato in Haldwani market would be in the range of Rs 1700-1900 per quintal in August, September 2013, while in October, 2013 the price will come down to Rs 1500-1600 per quintal.
Hence, we urge the farmers to sell potato on harvest in August-September, Kumar further informed.
India ranks third after China and Russia in production of potato in the world. India contributes approximately 7.5 per cent of the world’s total potato production. The average yield of potato per hectare in India is quite low, standing at 22.72 tone per hectare, as compared to 30-40 tone per hectare in European countries, informed the scientists.
Potato is a most widely grown vegetable crop in the country with a share of 25.7 per cent of vegetables. The area under potato cultivation in India was 1.86 million hectare with total production of 42.33 million tone in 2011.
Major potato growing states are Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Punjab and Karnataka which together account for about 86 per cent of India’s potato production.
As far as Uttarakhand is concerned, hill potato is relatively highly priced being off season, and is exported to other regions due to low availability of plain’s potato during this season. The sowing of hill potato starts from February end and last up to March-April according to different altitudes. The harvesting of the crop starts from end of July and lasts up to November.