Demanding immediate relief to the potato farmers, Shiromani Akali Dal MP from Sri Anandpur Sahib Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra on Monday said that he would meet the Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday at Delhi to impress upon him to make immediate intervention in the matter.
He said that he would seek Paswan’s intervention to direct the Central agencies like NAFED to make arrangement for procurement of potatoes and also for export of the commodity.
“I would apprise the Union Minister about the crisis that potato farmers are facing in the wake of lack of demand so that the farmers get remunerative price for their crop,” he said adding that potato can be exported to countries in Africa, Gulf and Russia.
Prof Chandumajra estimated the production of potatoes in Punjab at about 20 lakh tonnes and the crop was rotting in the fields.
As against the cost of `700 per quintal, the farmer was getting only about `200 per quintal, he pointed, adding that the farmers in Punjab alone would suffer a loss of about `100 crore thereby deepening the farm crisis. Suicides by the potato farmers had already started, he added.