Potato production likely to fall

Potato production in the country may fall sharply in the current season as the production of kitchen essentials on each hectare has declined compared to last year.

While visiting several croplands in several districts, it was found that the farmers harvested less this year compared to the rain-disrupted previous year.

According to the farmers, production is low due to lack of rain in time and the small size of potatoes. They, however, said that the price is good in the market.

As of March 21 of FY23, farmers harvested 75.84 lakh tonnes of this table vegetable from 3.89 lakh hectares of land. Potatoes have been cultivated on 4.55 lakh hectares of land this year, according to the data from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).

Around 85 per cent of land has been harvested, and so far, the yield per hectare is 19.51 tonnes.

As per the current productivity rate, around 88.85 lakh tonnes of production is expected after harvesting all the land. But the government had set a target to produce 105.56 lakh tonnes for FY23, with a productivity rate of 22.75 tonnes per hectare.

In FY22, farmers produced 101 lakh tonnes of potatoes which is much higher than the current fiscal considering the present productivity rate.

The country’s annual potato demand is 70-80 lakh tonnes, according to traders.

“I have received 64 sacks, each with 50kg potatoes, from my cropland. But I used to get 100 sacks of potatoes from the same piece of land earlier,” Abdul Malek, a farmer of Sirajdikhan upazila of Munshiganj told The Business Post.

Aslam Sheikh, another farmer, said, “I produced around 23 tonnes of potato per hectare of land. It is even lower than the rain-disrupted production.”

“In FY22, I got around 30 tonnes of potato from each hectare of land which was around 38 tonnes in FY21,” he added.

However, field-level agriculture extension officials are claiming a high productivity rate in their respective areas.

Md Obaidur Rahman Mondal, deputy director of DAE, Rangpur, said per hectare yield is 28 tonnes so far in the district. And farmers have completed harvesting in around 80 per cent of the land.

Md Abdul Aziz, deputy director of DAE, Munshiganj, said “Potato production in the district is 27 tonnes per hectare.”

Rangpur and Munshiganj are among the highest potato-producing districts in the country. The per-hectare yield of the vegetable is the most in these districts.

Abdul Aziz said on average, per hectare yield of potatoes in Munshiganj is about 37-38 tonnes. But this year, per hectare yield is less due to lack of rain in time. As a result, the potatoes failed to grow in size.

Meanwhile, instead of selling directly after harvest, the farmers are interested in storing the produce in cold storage to make more profit later. “The current price of Tk 700 per sack is acceptable. Still, it is profitable to sell from the field,” said farmer Abdul Malek.

Cold storage will charge Tk 250 rent per sack of potatoes. It means the farmer has to sell the potato at a much higher price later to pay the Tk 5 storage rent per kg.

However, the merchants are not willing to take the risk of investing in potato storage this year, and the cold storages are yet to be filled with potatoes.

Md Shohidul Islam, manager of Anam Cold Storage at Sirajdikhan, said, “We can store 1.6 lakh sacks. Till now, we have received 1 lakh sacks. The majority of the cold storage has space inside.”

“In previous years, our storage was half-filled with potatoes from northern districts of the country. But, this year, the supply is very low as the product is also low,” he said.

The DAE office is promoting the cultivation of mustard and maize, two of the most profitable crops in Bangladesh, to make farmers happy.

Munshiganj agriculture officer Md Abdul Aziz said, “People of this area are addicted to potato cultivation. They cultivate potatoes despite the risk of loss or a marginal profit.”

“We are promoting more profitable mustard and corn cultivation and farmers also are gradually shifting to these two crops,” he said.

Productivity rate lowest in eight years

This year’s potato productivity rate is the lowest in recent years and far away from the target set by the government. The DAE had set the target at 22.75 tonnes per hectare for FY23.

Considering the present 19.51 tonnes per hectare productivity rate, this year’s potato production is the lowest among the last eight years, according to the data available on the DAE website.

In the previous seven years, the productivity rate never went down to 20 tonnes per hectare.

According to the DAE, some 20.77 tonnes of potato was produced on each hectare of land in FY16, 20.44 tonnes in FY17, 20.41 tonnes in FY18, 20.61 in FY19, 20.82 tonnes in FY20, 21.10 in FY21 and 21.86 tonnes in FY22.

Cultivated land lowest in eight years

Farmers are also losing interest in potato production as 4.55 lakh hectares of land came under potato cultivation this year, the lowest in eight years, and 9,000 hectares less than the target set by the government.

The government reduced the target to 4.64 lakh hectares in FY23, from 4.78 lakh hectares in FY22.

In FY22, farmers cultivated potatoes on 4.64 lakh hectares of land. For FY23, the DAE had set the target to cultivate potatoes on the same amount of land. However, the government failed to meet the target.

Around 4.75 lakh hectares came under potato cultivation in FY16, 4.99 in FY17, 8.77 lakh hectares in FY18, 4.69 in FY19, 4.61 in FY20, and 4.69 in FY21.