Now, potato price goes up

The retail price of potato, the most consumed vegetable in Bangladesh around the year, has now increased at different markets of Dhaka city, alongside the spiralling cost of other essentials including rice, pulses, egg, milk and edible oil.

Potato price has increased by Tk 5-10 per kg over the past few days, according to traders. On Friday, one kg was sold at Tk 25-30. It was Tk 20 just three days ago.

Amir Hossain, a trader in the Hatirpool kitchen market, said they were selling potatoes at an increased rate because the prices also went up by Tk 5-10 in the wholesale market.

Zaynal Abedin, a grocer in the city’s Rampura area, said they were also selling potatoes at Tk 25 per kg.

Sellers also claimed that the price hike was caused by a group of traders who have hoarded potatoes in cold storage and created a supply shortage in the wholesale market. They said retailers were now getting by with the potatoes farmers harvested and sold directly to the wholesalers.

This season, Bangladesh produced more than 1.1 crore tonnes of potatoes, the highest ever in a fiscal year in the country’s history.

The total production has exceeded the target of 1.065 crore tonnes set by the government. The country also recorded an average per hectare yield of 23.19 tonnes, which is the highest in the nation’s history of potato cultivation.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension’s data, of the total production, 1.05 crore tonnes came from high yielding varieties and 5.24 lakh tonnes from local varieties.

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.