Punjab’s kinnow growers see 50 pc drop in income

"Supply of kinnow to southern states costs us about 18-19 per kg which involves cost of waxing, packing, grading and transportation. On the other hand, oranges are available at Rs 12-13 per kg. Then how will we compete with them," he said.

Chandigarh: Hit by oversupply of oranges from Maharashtra, growers of kinnow, a citrus mandarin fruit, in Punjab have seen almost 50 per cent plunge in their returns this season from potential markets.

Disappointed growers now want the Punjab government to come forward to rescue them from this ‘loss making’ venture by providing subsidy on transportation of kinnow for supply to other states.

Growers in Punjab fetched Rs 6-7 per kg for their crop in December as against Rs 12-13 per kg they received last season. Kinnow harvesting starts in December and goes on till March in Punjab.

"This season has been very bad for kinnow growers as there is hardly any buyer for the crop in the market which led to plummeting of prices," rued Abohar-based Ajit Sharan who grew kinnow over 70 acres of land.

Growers blamed the oversupply of oranges in their potential markets in other states this season, leading to crash in prices of Kinnow. "We are unable to compete with oranges grown in Maharashtra which have almost ousted our kinnows from potential markets like Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh etc," another grower Ajit Nyol, who grows Kinnow over 40 acres of land, told PTI.

"Supply of kinnow to southern states costs us about 18-19 per kg which involves cost of waxing, packing, grading and transportation. On the other hand, oranges are available at Rs 12-13 per kg. Then how will we compete with them," he said.

As a result of low demand, the overall price of kinnow remained low this year.

However, middlemen and retailers are selling kinnow at last year's rate of Rs 25-30 per kg, growers alleged. South is the biggest market for Punjab's kinnow and it plays a vital role in deciding the pricing, growers said. Because of lower demand for fruit, some of contractors who buy crop from farmers ahead of season even refused to pay the agreed price to growers, they said. Notably, low pricing of kinnow came at a time when Punjab government is aggressively promoting crop diversification in the state to encourage farmers to come out of wheat-paddy rotation.

Intense cold conditions prevailing in northern region also had a dampening effect on demand for kinnow fruit.

"Demand for kinnow also did not emerge in Punjab and other neighbouring states due to severe cold conditions and absence of bright sunshine during December-end and January," said a trader.

"We want the state government should at least provide sufficient incentive for marketing of kinnow crop in order to provide remunerate prices to growers," said Nyol. Growers also demanded from Punjab government to accelerate its efforts to process maximum amount of kinnow crop for making juices at two plants -Ferozepur and Hoshiarpur set up by state owned Punjab Agro Juices Limited.

However, experts pitched for proper promotion of kinnow crops across the country to tap and explore newer markets for fetching remunerative prices.

Punjab is the largest producer of kinnow fruit in the country with over 49,000 hectares of land with almost 10 lakh ton of annual output. It is primarily grown in Abohar, Hoshiarpur, Mansa, Muktsar and Bathinda districts.