Manali, Oct 22 : Virus-free potatoes grown only in Himachal Pradesh's cold desert, which mainly find a market for plantation, are much sought after these days owing to the shortage of table potatoes in the country, trade representatives said.
Officials of the state agriculture department say 8,200 tonnes of Kufri Jyoti and Kufri Chandramukhi varieties, grown only in the Lahaul Valley of Lahaul-Spiti district, are expected this season.
"A large quantity of Lahaul potatoes, meant for cultivating fresh crops, is finding its way for consumption in northern India owing to the high rates prevailing there," Puran Thakur, a trader here, told IANS.
He said initially the potatoes were sold for over Rs.3,200 per quintal (100 kg) in the wholesale market. "Now when the harvesting has picked up in the entire Lahaul Valley, its price fluctuates from Rs.2,400 to Rs.3,200 per quintal," he added.
District Agriculture Officer Madan Lal Sharma said the harvesting of potatoes has been completed in the Pattan area and is now under way in the Darcha and Jispa areas.
He said the Kufri Jyoti variety is prominently grown in the district.
"We are expecting a yield of over 7,300 tonnes of Kufri Jyoti, which is grown on 610 hectares. The rest 900 tonnes is of Kufri Chandramukhi and it's grown in 70 hectares," Sharma, who is based in Keylong, the district headquarters of Lahaul-Spiti, told IANS.
After harvesting, which begins in end of September and lasts for a month, the farmers transport the entire produce to Manali for grading and marketing.
"Like last year, this year too we are getting lucrative prices," Darshan Negi, a prominent potato grower in Jispa village, told IANS.
He said most of the crop is headed for northern India for consumption rather than selling as seed potato.
According to him, last year both potato varieties fetched Rs.2,800 per quintal on an average.
Another farmer, Krishan Bodh, told IANS: "This is the second consecutive year when the growers got lucrative returns. Otherwise farmers were dumping it at throwaway prices of just Rs.7 or Rs.8 a kg."
He said lower return was the main reason that discouraged the cultivation of potatoes.
Agriculture department surveys show over the past decade the area under potatoes has declined in Lahaul Valley from 2,000 hectares to about 700 hectares.
The reason, say agriculture experts, is highly remunerative returns from exotic vegetables, mainly broccoli and lettuce.
Currently, the total area under vegetable cultivation in the Valley, which has a cultivation season of less than five months from May owing to heavy snow, is around 2,200 hectares.
Amar Chand Dogra, managing director of the Lahaul Seed Potato Growers Cooperative Marketing Ltd, which is based here, said this season there was 5 to 10 percent less production of both varieties of potatoes and the size was not optimum.
He said it was mainly due to late cultivation of the crop in May due to the extended winter spell and less rain when the crop was maturing in August.
The marketing society, founded in the early 1960s and which has over 2,100 members, is yet to announce the rates.
Every year, growers, mainly from West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and the northeastern states buy potatoes from the society and directly from the farmers as seeds for crops.
The history of cultivating potatoes in the Lahaul Valley dates to 1854 when missionary A.W. Hide from Germany established a farm near Keylong, some 350 km from state capital Shimla.
In 1965, the then deputy commissioner of Lahaul, K.S. Bains, brought improved varieties of potato seeds that triggered prosperity in the region.
For the first time, the Indian government has decided to import potatoes from countries like Europe and Pakistan to ensure sufficient supplies till January.
Currently, potatoes are being retailed at Rs.35-40 per kg across the country.
(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
