Market access and disposal pattern of potato in Punjab

In order to examine the market access and disposal pattern of potato in Punjab state, the primary data pertaining to 80 potato growers (Table potato and seed potato growers) and 35 market intermediaries have been selected in the state by using the purposive and multi-stage random sampling technique. The results highlighted that more than 75 per cent of the produce is disposed of in the market by the producers and about 20 per cent is retained for the seed purpose for the next season. Among the different varieties of potato, Lady Rosetta is the preferred variety of table potato and Kufri Jyoti is the most preferred variety of seed potato for all farmers in the study area as the area under these varieties is comparatively higher than the remaining varieties. As far as the choice of market intermediary is concerned, the majority of the farmers prefer to sell the table potato to commission agents and seed potato to wholesalers. In terms of policy imperatives, as the study highlighted the majority of farmers sell potato to market intermediaries, but government intervention should be enhanced so that farmers can be protected from huge price crashes for these high-value crops.