Potatoes in cold storage have started rotting: FCSAI

Federation of Cold Storage Association of India (FCSAI) Saturday said that the huge stocks of potatoes in cold storages across the country have started rotting due to slump in sale following demonetisation. “In the wake of demonetisation which has led to currency crunch the middlemen in mandis (wholesale markets) are not buying potatoes from farmers,” FCSAI President Mahendra Swaroop told reporters here.

As a result of this, the farmers were not lifting potatoes from the cold storage and many of them are not in a position to clear their dues for preserving them in such facilities, he added.

Swaroop said roughly 1.50 crore sacks weighing around 50 kg each were stuffed in the storage. Now new produce is being harvested, he added. A big portion of the lakhs of tonnes of potatoes have started rotting in the cold storages, he said.