Potato farmers across Assam are facing a severe financial crisis as the prices they receive for their harvest have plummeted far below their production costs. This alarming situation has pushed many into distress, triggering protests and urgent calls for government intervention to regulate the market and provide essential infrastructure like cold storage.
Mounting Losses and Distress Sales Across Key Belts
The crisis is widespread, affecting major potato-producing regions of the state. In Sadiya, located in Tinsukia district, farmers reveal that their cost of production ranges between Rs 10 to Rs 11 per kilogram. However, they are being forced to sell their produce to wholesalers at a meager Rs 7 to Rs 8 per kg, incurring significant losses with each sale.
The scene is equally grim in Jingia, Biswanath district, which is considered Assam's largest potato-producing region with cultivation spread over 10,000 bighas. Nationally awarded farmer Debi Prasad Sarma from Jingia confirmed the dire numbers, stating, "Wholesalers are paying us around Rs 7 per kg while production costs were about Rs 11." He estimated that farmers are suffering losses of Rs 10,000 to Rs 13,000 per bigha this season.
Root Causes: No MSP, Storage Gap, and Outside Influx
Farmers and local leaders point to a combination of systemic failures that have led to this crisis. The primary issues they highlight include:
- Absence of Minimum Support Price (MSP): Unlike for crops like rice, there is no government-guaranteed minimum price for potatoes, leaving farmers at the mercy of market fluctuations and trader cartels.
- Critical Lack of Cold Storage: This is perhaps the most pressing infrastructural failure. In Sadiya and Mandia (Barpeta district), farmers say there are no cold storage facilities at all. Jingia has one unit, but its capacity is woefully inadequate for the scale of production. Without storage, potatoes begin to spoil within 15 days of harvest, forcing farmers into immediate, distress sales.
- Influx of Cheaper Potatoes: Farmers report that potatoes from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are arriving in Assam at around Rs 6 per kg, undercutting local produce and further depressing prices. They have demanded restrictions on this inflow until local stocks are sold.
- Trader Syndicates: Farmer Ranjit Borgohain from Sadiya alleged that illegal syndicates operated by a small group of traders in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh manipulate the market. He claims these traders use their own storage for outside potatoes while pressuring local farmers to sell immediately, allowing them to dictate prices.
Protests and Pleas for Government Action
Frustration over the government's failure to address these issues recently boiled over, with farmers resorting to highway protests where they dumped and destroyed potatoes in a symbolic act of anger. Their demands are clear and urgent.
In a memorandum submitted to the Tinsukia Deputy Commissioner, farmers have pleaded for market regulation, limits on outside potato supply, and the creation of syndicate-free markets. From Mandia, farmer Lal Chan Ali, who cultivates 300 bighas, stated that while a slight reduction in outside supply briefly raised prices to Rs 8-9 per kg, a sustainable price of Rs 15-18 per kg is needed for farmers to prosper.
The overarching demand echoing across Sadiya, Jingia, and Mandia is for the Assam government to announce a Minimum Support Price for potatoes and to bridge the massive gap in cold storage infrastructure. With more than 2,000 potato farmers in Sadiya alone, the scale of the crisis threatens the livelihood of thousands and the stability of a key agricultural sector in the state.
