Deesa, 20 December 2011

Hit by a crop glut, hundreds of farmers participating in a huge protest rally on Tuesday dumped 100 tractors full potatoes on the highway in Deesa town of north Gujarat.

Vinaykumar Gordhan Padhiyar, president of Gujarat Batata Utpadak Khedut Sangathan Samiti, a body of potato farmers, said the crop’s price has reportedly fallen to as low as Re 1 per kg.

More than 12.50 crore kgs of potatoes kept in cold storage across Gujarat are fetching just Re1 per kg due to excess supply and low demand. Padhiyar said.

“We want a special relief package of Rs700 crore to enable the farmers to come out of this situation,” he said. In the past, the Government had offered subsidy to potato growers to overcome such a situation, said Ganpatbhai Ladhaji, a member of the Samiti.