Punjab kinnow growers stare at poor income as prices fall amid bumper yield

Unanticipated drop in kinnow rates amid a bumper yield has left growers of the fruit in Punjab staring at very poor gains. Farmers said they are getting Rs 610 per kg for their kinnow crop, a steep decline as compared to Rs 2025 per kg they got last year. They rued that at the current rate, they are not able to recover their input cost, and sought from the government to fix a minimum price for the fruit crop. After two years of low yield because of unexpected high temperatures during the flowering stage of the crop, Punjab is set to achieve a bumper crop this season. Punjab, a major grower of kinnow in the country, is expected to achieve an output of 13.50 lakh metric tonne this season, as against 12 lakh MT in the last season. A total area of 47,000 hectares were brought under the kinnow crop this season. Harvesting of kinnow a hybrid between king and willow leaf mandarins starts in December and goes on till Februaryend in Punjab. Abohar is the leading district in the state with a maximum area of 35,000 hectares under the kinnow crop. It is also grown in Hoshiarpur, Muktsar, Bathinda and some other districts. Kinnow grower Ajit Sharan said growers are getting Rs 68 per kg as against about Rs 25 per kg received last year at this time. He further pointed out that though farmers are getting low prices, the kinnow crop is being sold at Rs 40 per kg in the retail market. "If a farmer grows a bumper yield, then it (low price) is the punishment for that," said Sharan, who grows the fruit crop over 90 acres of land in Ramgarh village in Abohar district. "We take care of the crop for the whole year and in return, what are we getting?We are not able to cover even the input cost," he added. He said farmers spend Rs 30,00040,000 per acre on the kinnow crop. "Farmers will be forced to uproot their orchards if they get such a raw deal," he added. Abohar MLA and farmer Sandeep Jakhar also pointed towards farmers fetching an average rate of Rs 910 per kg, which was quite insufficient. Another farmer Rajinder Sekhon said there are no buyers in the market for the kinnow crop. Last year, the crop was lifted by traders from my farm, said Sekhon, an award winning kinnow grower. There is no buyer for even top quality kinnow, he said, adding that usually, buyers from Pathankot, Delhi, Ludhiana and other places come to his farm around this time of the year to purchase the crop. Farmers have blamed some traders who have created a cartel not to give remunerative rates to growers. Some farmers this season harvested the crop early and as kinnow was not fully matured, it did not develop the required amount of sweetness, said an insider of the trade. It was one of the factors that led to reduction in demand for the fruit crop.