Indian kinnow farmers in Abohar complain about 'preferential treatment'
Their main grouse is the lack of export promotion measures, due to which much of the estimated one million tonne production — two-thirds of it from Abohar — gets dumped in domestic wholesale markets at low prices. For the current season (November-March), the Punjab government has targeted exports of 30,000 tonnes. But so far only 5,000 tonnes has gone out, admits Kahan Singh Pannu, managing director, Punjab Agro Industries Corporation (PAIC).
“Harvesting of the fruits ends in February. How will they meet the target?”, asks Pradip Dawra, president of the Kinnow Waxing and Grading Association, who, along with three other exporters, has shipped out a 24-tonne container load to Dubai this season “without any government help”. Moreover, even the fruits exported are apparently from “select” orchards in the Badal bastion of Muktsar. “Nobody came here to do quality inspection for exports. They only visited orchards in Muktsar,” claims a farmer.
Abohar has some 70 pack house and waxing units, of which only five have pre-cooling and cold room facilities. “Even these were installed by us this year at Rs 40-50 lakh each. We were promised a 35 per cent government subsidy on this, which hasn’t come yet. Last year, there was sudden demand from Russia, but the fruit that went wasn’t up to the mark because of the absence of the said facilities and also a special anti-fungal wax,” points out Dawra. PAIC’s Pannu, however, maintains that there is no bias. “We are exporting from Abohar. Also, we have arranged wax from Spain this time and it will be done every year,” he states.
For Abohar’s farmers, rising saline groundwater levels are also a major concern, threatening to destroy acres of kinnow orchards. In 2014, the then UPA government at the Centre released Rs 2,240 crore for a project to drain out saline waters in the region. But if the growers here are to be believed, this work, too, was taken up only in Muktsar. Even ‘degreening’ technology — exposing green citrus fruits with low levels of ethylene to enhance colouration — was introduced in the Badal family’s pocket borough of Lambi in Muktsar, according to them.
source: indianexpress.com
