Bhubaneswar, Oct. 10: Over-dependence on neighbouring Andhra Pradesh for vegetables, fish, eggs, sugar and cattle feed has created major problems for people of the state.

The supply of these commodities has been badly affected as the movement of trucks from Andhra Pradesh has been hit because of the ongoing Telangana issue.

While the Telangana movement continues to take its toll on the supply of these commodities, stockists here claim that Dussehra festivities has also played a major role in slowing down the movement of trucks.

Dussehra was also celebrated with gusto in Andhra Pradesh, along with Karnataka and Maharashtra, which supply some of these commodities to Orissa. Market observers said: “Apart from potato, which comes from Bengal, Orissa largely depends on Andhra Pradesh for its food requirements.

Bengal and Andhra Pradesh also supply flowers to Orissa. While Bengal supplies marigolds and tuberoses, other varieties of flowers come from Andhra Pradesh.”

Stockists at city-based Aiginia onion and potato godowns receive more than 30 truckloads of material daily, coming either directly from Andhra Pradesh or Karnataka and Maharashtra through Andhra Pradesh.

Of this, seven to eight trucks carry vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, capsicum and French beans, which come from Bangalore in Karnataka and Nasik in Maharashtra.

“Now, the supply has gone down due to the after-effects of Dussehra coupled with the ongoing Telangana movement. Therefore, we are getting fewer trucks. One truck carries 15 tonnes of material. Today, less than 10 trucks reached the Aiginia stockyard,’’ said the proprietor of Swastik Onions.

However, driver Seikh Maqbool from Ongole in Andhra Pradesh explained: “We cannot blame the Telangana movement entirely. The agitators are now only targeting government vehicles and not blocking the movement of private vehicles. I think Dussehra had a bigger impact on the movement of these vehicles.”

Orissa traders rue the lack of initiative on the part of state farmers to grow vegetables that come from outside.

“Orissa has good conditions for producing onions. However, our people are not worried about enhancing farm productivity and production of vegetables such as potato, tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbage and capsicum. We have to work hard on this. However, as most of the farm produce is perishable, the state government should construct more cold storages,” said Bhajan Kumar Rout, a trader from Aiginia.

Pradeep Agarwal of Station Road area said: “ Not just vegetables, eggs and fish, Andhra Pradesh is now supplying 50 per cent of our sugar requirement. Earlier, Andhra Pradesh used to supply 75 per cent of the sugar requirement. But with the rise in value added tax (VAT) in Andhra Pradesh and fall of VAT in Karnataka and Maharashtra, the supply from Andhra Pradesh has come down. Apart from sugar, Andhra Pradesh supplies more than 80 per cent of our dal requirement. If Andhra Pradesh stops supply of dal for two days, there will be a serious problem, even in Bhubaneswar. While three truckloads of sugar land here daily, two truckloads of dal come in every day.’’

Agarwal, however, blamed the administration, as they did not give any incentive to the agriculture sector.

“There are seven dams across the Godavari river, while only one across the Mahanadi. On the other hand, there is no additional canal system to increase productivity. Floods are also causing major problems for farm productivity in Orissa. In Andhra Pradesh, farmers are going for three crops of rice in a year, but in Orissa it is difficult to sustain two crops of rice each year. Moreover, the “jeera” rice produced in Andhra Pradesh is more in demand in Orissa, which only produces a thicker type of rice. In Andhra Pradesh and Bengal, there is no additional marketing and sales tax on paddy and rice, but Orissa the government has levied several taxes, making the price less competitive,” he said.

The stockist also said the wheat extract used for making cattle-feed in Orissa was thicker than the Andhra Pradesh import. The longevity of the cattle-feed from Andhra is more, making its demand higher. Therefore, Orissa is getting more than 500 truckloads of cattle-feed from Andhra Pradesh in a month.

Leading fish merchant, Seikh Mustafa, said the traders are getting at least five truckloads of fish from Andhra Pradesh.

“We are now producing fish which supplies produce for three months in a year. However, Andhra Pradesh still supplies fish for remaining nine months. Two or three years ago, the production was negligible here, but with good efforts from the fisheries department, the situation has changed,” Mustafa said.

Sahid Qadri, an egg merchant at Unit-IV Market, said while three truckloads of eggs are coming everyday to Bhubaneswar, one truck comes from Berhampur in south Orissa.

A truck carries around 1.58 lakh eggs.

“However, regarding supply of chicken we have achieved remarkable results as only the poultry farmers of Puri are now supplying poultry to the capital. Earlier, we were depending on Andhra Pradesh to supply chicken to Bhubaneswar,” Qadri said.

Bijay Prusty, assistant agriculture marketing advisor of the directorate of marketing and inspection, ministry of agriculture, New Delhi, said: “Andhra Pradesh has successfully implemented the marketing and supply chain management strategies and its state government has used the private market forces in achieving its goal. In contrast, in Orissa, though regional marketing committees were formed years ago, there is no link between infrastructure and farmers, making the process useless. However, the state government is now trying to adopt models used in other states. Market linkage, supply chain maintenance should therefore be on the agenda of the state government.”