District horticulture offices in Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest potato-producing state, are rolling out a new state price-support and storage-subsidy scheme for potato growers, according to reports by UNI Varta, Amar Ujala and other Hindi-language media in September.
Under the Bhamashah Bhav Sthirta Kosh (Bhamashah Price Stability Fund) scheme, farmers who store potatoes in private cold stores receive a subsidy of ₹100 per quintal, up to ₹20,000 per farmer, Amar Ujala reports. The scheme also covers price support: farmers receive either 25% of a set production cost or the difference between production cost and sale price. According to the portal Tractor Junction, the lower of the two amounts is paid. Coverage is capped at 2 hectares per farmer and 240 quintals per hectare. Registration is online only, and payments go directly to farmers’ bank accounts.
Slow start
Take-up has been slow in some districts. In Kanpur Dehat, about 1,000 farmers stored potatoes in cold stores but only 13 had registered for the subsidy, Amar Ujala reported on 10 September. The district has been allotted ₹32 lakh (₹3.2 million) under the scheme.
According to Tractor Junction, the scheme has a fund of ₹1,000 crore, with ₹100 crore released at first, and is expected to reach 12–14 lakh farmers. POTATOES NEWS could not find these figures in an official government order, so they rest on one source.
Context
The scheme was announced in August, after a season of low prices for potato growers in northern India. In neighbouring Punjab, growers are selling below cost while cold stores remain full. Uttar Pradesh also has plans to open new export routes for its potatoes.
Why it matters
A state-level price floor and storage subsidy in India’s biggest potato state could change when farmers sell and how much stock stays in cold storage. But support only works if farmers use it. Low registration points to problems with awareness or with the online-only process. Growers in Uttar Pradesh should check the registration deadline in their district; cold-store operators may see more demand for storage if uptake improves.
Photo: Potato transport to a cold store in India (illustrative). Suyash Dwivedi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
