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The Bangladesh Cold Storage Association (BCSA) has urged the government to distribute excess potatoes in cold storages to prevent potential losses of nearly $174 million.
Its President Md Mosharraf Hossain, at a press conference at Dhaka Club on Saturday, raised a 10-point demand to save the cold storage industry affected severely by the coronavirus pandemic.
The association demanded distributing potatoes through relief, the Kabikha project, VGF-VGD cards, open market sale (OMS), and exports.
Its data shows the country produced 1.1 crore tonnes of potatoes this year while the annual local consumption is usually 90 lakh tonnes.
Cold storage owners and farmers stocked 40 lakh tonnes of potatoes in March and April in 400 storages.
Now they fear 15-20 lakh tonnes of potatoes will rot as local consumption declined drastically due to the closure of restaurants, hotels, shops, and university halls of residence for the pandemic.
BCSA leaders said they are incurring losses as they are selling potatoes for Tk 8-9 per kg from cold storages but spent Tk 18, including all costs.
Mosharraf said they had urged different authorities, including agriculture and food ministries, the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh, and the Department of Agricultural Marketing, to take necessary steps in this regard, but no measure had been taken yet.
“We have only two months to supply potatoes in the market. If we fail to do so by then, nearly 15 lakh tones of potatoes will remain unsold or we have to throw them away,” he said.
He also demanded taking necessary steps to increase potato exports and increase local consumption to solve the crisis.
Other demands of the association include loan rescheduling facilities, mandatory use of potatoes nationally, setting up a monitoring cell with the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the opportunity to pay electricity bills in instalments, and abolishing the 2 per cent source tax.
The association’s General Secretary Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury, Vice-President Eshtiaque Ahmed, and executive committee directors Mohammad Younus, Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu, and MA Khan Belal were present at the press conference among others.
