Muktsar: Expecting losses, kinnow farmers switch to cotton, other crops

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, July 10

As the kinnow crop is badly hit due to sudden rise in temperature during its flowering stage in March and later closure of canals for a long period, some orchardists have this year grown cotton crop in their semi-arid orchards in this south-western part of the state.

The kinnow growers are expecting just about 20-25 per cent yield this year. Notably, the coloured kinnow starts coming in the market in November. Some kinnow growers said the fruit traders were now finalising advanced deals of kinnow for Rs 30-35 per kg of quality product. The price last year had remained just about Rs 20-25 per kg.

Balwinder Singh Tikka, a state awardee kinnow grower from Abulkhurana village, said: “This is the second season in a row when the yield has decreased sharply. The kinnow growers make profit from the weight of the fruit and not its rate. A number of kinnow plants have dried up and uprooted by the orchardists in the area due to change in weather. At the flowering stage, the temperature increased four degrees in a day which damaged the flowers on the plants. There are some orchards, which are having negligible fruit this year. Even the orchards which produced quality fruit in the past have suffered badly.”

He added: “The other fruits like guava and malta, too, are hit badly. First the sudden increase in temperature hit the crop and thereafter the ill-timing of canal closure increased the woes of orchardists. Those orchardists who were totally dependent on flood irrigation have suffered badly but those already having drip irrigation system installed in their orchards are comparatively in a little better position. However, some of us have now even started cultivating other crops. We can’t suffer losses anymore. The last year, too, was not favourable for the fruit growers in the region.”

Similarly, advocate Mohit Setia, a kinnow grower from Fazilka district, said: “We have sown cotton crop in a segment of our orchard this year. This is just a trial because the kinnow crop will hardly meet its expenses this year. Now, the Irrigation Department has again closed some water channels in our area. We are unable to survive in such a situation. The state government should focus on the horticulture sector or there will be hardly any fruit growers left in the region in the next two-three years. The input costs are increasing every year and the yield is dropping sharply. Further, the basic rule of economics that the price increases when the supply decreases too does not apply in toto on kinnow crop.”

Setia further said that a kinnow plant’s life is nearly 30 years. However, there were some fruit growers who had to uproot their fully grown plants in less than 15 years. Notably, kinnow is grown in above 90,000 acres in Fazilka and Muktsar districts.

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