ROURKELA: One of the leading producers of horticulture crops, rain-fed Sundargarh district largely ignores production of the two highly sought-after staple vegetables - onion and potato, despite having favourable soil and climatic conditions.Farmers of the district have little inclination towards these two crops reportedly due to lack of assured irrigation, storage facilities and marketing link.
Sundargarh is known for supplying vegetables in bulk to different parts of Odisha and other states. But for onion, it is overly dependent on Maharashtra and Karnataka. Similarly, the district largely depends on West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh for potato. Sources said local consumers are often forced to pay through the nose for onions and potatoes due to price volatility of the two vegetables at source points.
Reliable sources in the district horticulture office said in the ongoing rabi crop season, it has been earmarked to grow onion in 1,825 hectare (ha) and potato over 2,050 ha of irrigated land, which is much less than the total vegetable cultivation area of 35,000-37,000 ha. Onion and potato are cultivated in Sundargarh only during rabi season. The average production of onion is 11.5 tonne per ha, while potato is 12 tonne per ha with the total production cost of both the vegetables remaining between Rs 1.30 lakh and Rs 1.40 lakh per ha.
Some progressive farmers said a holistic approach with right ecosystem is needed to eliminate Sundargarh’s dependency for onion and potato and simultaneously enhance the income of farmers. While cold storage facilities for potato have relatively improved, there are no stores for onion in the district.
“Capable farmers should be encouraged with incentives to take up intensive cultivation of onion and potato for higher yields. They should also be enlightened on proper marketing and ways to effectively fight associated risk factors,” said the farmers.Deputy director of horticulture Sukant Naik said steps are being taken to increase cultivation area of onion and potato in the district.
Incidentally, the Potato Mission launched in Sundargarh during 2015 failed with price crashing due to bumper production. Besides, the potato farmers were left in a lurch as the authorised procurement agency backed out at the last minute.