Punjab: Potato prices dive; growers fear glut, want export nod

AFTER EXPECTING a bumper crop, potato growers of the state are fearing a glut in the peak harvesting season of February and March, coupled with no demand from other states and prices crashing to one of the lowest at Rs 300 per quintal. Growers are saying that post-demonetisation, there has been no rise in price and buyers dwindled, too. Even a couple of years back, potatoes used to be sold at Rs 3,000-4,000 per quintal. Watch What Else is Making News So, growers are demanding government help to export potatoes and get a good price. Punjab is expecting a production of over 2.2 million tonnes whereas it has the capacity to store around 16 lakh tonnes in the nearly 500 cold stores. But the old crop, lying in the cold stores, needs to be cleared first. More