Potato production exceeds target

Bangladesh produced more than 11 million tonnes of potato – the highest ever recorded in the country – this year.

Data from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) further shows that of total production, 1.05 crore tonnes came from high yielding varieties, and 5.24 lakh tonnes from local varieties.

This year’s potato production exceeded the target of 10.65 million tonnes set by the government for Fiscal Year 2021-22. Bangladesh also recorded an average per hectare yield of 23.19 tonnes – highest in the nation’s history of potato cultivation.

Per hectare yield was 23.87 tonnes from high yielding varieties and 14.73 tonnes from the local variety. Farmers cultivated potatoes on 4,76,891 hectares of land. High yielding varieties were cultivated on 4,41,325 hectares and local varieties on 35,566 hectares of land.

This data will soon be finalised in a coordination meeting between Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization (SPARSO) and DAE, sources said.

BBS data shows that Bangladesh had produced 98.87 lakh tonnes of potato with per hectare yield of 21.09 tonnes in FY21, and 96.06 lakh tonnes with per hectare yield of 20.82 tonnes in FY20, 96.55 lakh tons with per hectare yield of 20.61 tonnes in FY19 and 97.44 lakh tonnes with per hectare yield of 20.41 tonnes FY18.

The DAE data on potato production matched the BBS data for the past few years. But in FY18, the department had recorded the production of 103 lakh tonnes of potato with per hectare yield of 20.96 tonnes.

DAE officials say they collect information from the field level through district agriculture offices.

Though Bangladesh achieved record potato production this year, farmers and stakeholders in some regions said excessive rainfall – which mostly affected middle and southern districts – had impacted their harvest.

Addressing this issue, Deputy Director of DAE, Munshiganj Md Khurshid Alam said, “Last year, per hectare production of potato was 32 tonnes, which dropped to 30.64 tonnes in FY22 in Munshiganj due to rainfall.

“Farmers of the district use more fertiliser compared to any other district of the country. Moreover they cultivate potatoes just after harvesting Bona Aman. That is why the soil remains more fertile compared to other districts.”

He added that 35,080 hectares of land came into potato cultivation in Munshiganj, a decline from 2,800 hectares compared to the previous year.”

Munshiganj, one of the five top potato producing districts of the country, was severely affected by excessive rainfall triggered by cyclone Jawad in the first week of December last year. Rainwater washed away 13,000 hectares of potato fields during that period.

The DAE data for this region does not match the farmers’ claims, who told The Business Post that the excessive rainfall has cut their potato yield in half this year.

Shafi Baburchi, a potato farmer from Munshiganj, said, “Per hectare yield this FY was around 10-11 tonnes, which is almost half of last year’s productivity.”

Mossaraf Hossain, another farmer from Sirajdikhan upazila of the same district, harvested 12 tonnes of potato from per hectare. “I had cultivated the tuber on four hectares of land. Rain damaged the first seedlings I had planted, so I had to prepare the land for a second time.

“My yield of potatoes declined significantly due to this disruption.”

The Bangladesh Cold Storage Association’s President Md Mosharraf Hossain did not acknowledge the DAE data, and echoed the farmers’ claims.

“The data provided by the DAE is incorrect. Our calculations say the potato production will remain below one crore tonnes,” he said, adding that per hectare yield of Munshiganj is in between 12-14 tonnes.

Providing more details, Hossain said, “The country consumes 80-82 lakh tonnes of potatoes annually and 7 to 8 lakh metric tonnes are used for preparing seed. The rest are wasted.

“The government should procure the surplus potatoes to save farmers and cold storage owners from incurring losses.”

Md Sirazul Islam, DAE Director of Field Service Wing said, “We have a mechanism of data collection. The data comes from the field officers via upazila and district offices. The BBS publishes the final data after coordination of departments concerned at a later time.”