Bongaigaon/Nagaon, March 1: Potato farmers at Mandia in lower Assam's Barpeta district are facing losses because they are not able to get good prices for their produce.

The farmers said they spend nearly Rs 22,000 to cultivate potatoes in a bigha of land but are unable to get good returns. Social worker Chand Mamud said prices have gone down to Rs 2 to Rs 3 per kg and farmers have no option but to sell their produce at low prices owing to lack of cold storage facilities. The farmers cannot sell them in the district headquarters markets either as cost of transportation is high.

Mandia is the potato hub in the district, where 98 per cent farmers grow the tuber.

The village, having a population over 3,500, is 10km southwest of the Barpeta district headquarters.

Farmers in the village buy potato seeds, fertilizers and pesticides at high prices to grow the crop commercially. Most of them even take loans from private lenders at high interest. The village also lacks irrigation facility and due to which the farmers have to spend money to irrigate their potato fields. Prices of potato at Barpeta Road market varies between Rs 5 to Rs 10 a kilo as traders brings them from Nainital and Bengal.

The production in the state has gone up since the agriculture department started distribution of the Kufri Jyoti potato variety for free from 2001 to 2014. "This year, less rainfall in the winter helped potato production, said senior department officer Dipok Tamuli.

Nagaon, Morigaon, Sonitpur, Biswanath Chariali, Barpeta and Darrang are the main potato growing districts in Assam.

Agriculture department officials said abundance of quality seeds, coupled with favourable weather are the two main reasons for increase in production of potato in the state.

"Productivity of Pukhraj variety of seeds is almost double and that results maximum potato production," said Tamuli.

The agriculture department distributed 20,924 quintals of Pukhraj and 1,860 quintals of Khyati variety of seeds among farmers this year. Both the varieties are from Punjab and known as short-duration, disease-resistant and cold-tolerant varieties.

"These varieties could be harvested in 100 days so farmers could opt for another crop assoon as the potato is harvested. Productivity is 15 to 20 times of the seed," said Seed Corporation of India managing director, M.P. Rownier.