India: Cauliflower more profitable than potato
Of the total 3,470 hectare cultivated agriculture land in Lahaul, majority is under cauliflower, pushing pea cultivation to the second place. A few years ago, 1,800 hectare land was under potato cultivation, making it the major cash crop in the valley. However, potato crop has now been pushed to the third place. Both Kufri Jyoti and Kufri Chandermukhi varieties of seed potato produced in Lahaul are in danger.
Amit Shashni of Goshal village said he has been cultivating cauliflower for last three years. "It is more profitable than potato. Unfortunately, this year we are getting cheap prices for our produce as maximum farmers from the valley have grown similar crop and demand is less than production," he added.
As far as the eye can see, vast farms of cauliflower can be seen spread till the horizon. Many farmers have cultivated vegetables in the apple orchards. According to experts, the cold and dry weather of Lahaul is perfect for vegetable production. However, unavailability of water is a problem in some places. Unlike other farms of the country where farmers are forced to spray pesticides on vegetables to kill pests, there are no pests in cold environment of Lahaul.
"Cauliflowers of Lahaul are huge in size and colour is snow-white. We are transporting them to Kullu, Chandigarh, Punjab, Delhi and other parts of the country," another farmer Ajeet Sharma said. He added that he has cultivated potato and peas in a little portion of the land. "I have also tried a hand at hops. But as its price was too low, I adopted potato farming and now major crop is cauliflower."
The main markets for Lahaul's seed potato are Gujarat, West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, UP, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand and Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal also sourced it from here. Uncertainty of its production, hard work and fluctuation in prices are other reasons that led farmers to adopt other crops.
Source: indiatimes.com
