Potatoes given away for free
Chandigarh/Hyderabad, August 8: Grief-stricken potato farmers of Jalandhar gave away their produce for free to the people on Friday. About 50 tonnes (50,000 kg) of potato was freely distributed, much to the joy of the general public. According to Jalandhar Potato Growers Association, there was an over production of the crop last year. Of the total 2.1 millions of the produce, only 5 to 10 per cent was sold out and the remaining is kept in cold stores. There is absolutely no demand anywhere in the country. This made the price of potato to plummet drastically. The potato selling price is Rs 3 to Rs 4 per kilo while the production cost was Rs 8 to Rs 10 per kilo. The farmers criticised the Central and the State governments for failing to protect them against the falling prices. They requested the State government to grant at least Rs 1 per kilo as freight charges for transporting their yield to other areas where it could be sold.