Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh has urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to take advantage of the facilities available under the newly-created Price Stabilization Fund (PSF).
The PSF with a kitty of Rs 500 crore is meant to control rising prices of important agriculture and horticulture commodities, stated Singh in his letter to Patnaik. With this fund, onion and potato farmers would be able to withstand market volatility and sustain losses.
Recently, potato growers in Odisha were forced to sell a kilogram of potato at a price between Rs 3 and Rs 3.50 much below the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 6 per kg announced by the State Government. Incidentally, the State had a bumper harvest this year following launch of the Potato Mission on December 27. The State had decided to keep a buffer stock as potatoes were sold at around Rs 40 per kg last year.
A total of 3.12 lakh tonnes of potato were produced this year against requirement of 11 lakh metric tonnes. The potato production in 2014 was 2.4 lakh metric tonnes.
The State Government can take help of the PSF to ameliorate farmers’ distress in such situations, said Singh. He said the sole objective of PSF is to promote direct purchase from farmers and to maintain a strategic buffer stock that would discourage hording and unscrupulous transitions.
“This will also help mitigate hardships of consumers who at times are forced to pay Rs 60 per kg of potato,” he added. Guidelines for the PSF envisage for a onetime interest-free advance to the State, to be allowed on the basis of its market intervention proposal for price control. The PSF would operate from the current year and the State Governments will have to send their proposals as soon as possible, according to the letter.