Home ›› 01 Sep 2021 ›› Nation
A bumper production of potato has now become a matter of concern for its growers and traders in Bogura as demand for the tuber declined.
The growers have started feeling the pinch due to the poor return as the wholesale price saw a sharp dip from around Tk18 a kilogramme (kg) a week ago to Tk9 per kg. At retail level, prices dropped to Tk15 from Tk25 per kilogramme, causing a loss of around Tk8 in each kg of the tuber.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, Bogura— one of the biggest potato growing districts in the country— produced 12,50,000 tonnes of potato in the 2019-20 fiscal year and 12,00,000 tonnes in 2018-19.
Due to favourable weather conditions, farmers of the district produced more than the target the DAE set. However, the significant fall in the prices made farmers worry about their future as the losses they are expecting to incur will be more than their production cost, said the agriculture officers and farmers of the district.
According to local sources, farmers in Sadar, Shibganj, Ghoradhap, Namuja, Chandmuha upazilas got a good yield of potato last year. They sold premium a kg of quality potato for Tk 28 to Tk 30 and medium quality for Tk 20 to Tk 25 last year.
However, the growers are selling the same amount at Tk 9 to Tk 10 to cold storage owners this year. After associating all the manufacturing costs, the wholesale price of each kg of this vegetable is becoming Tk 17 at least.
Therefore, at the current prices, the growers are counting at least Tk 6 per kg in loss.
At Mokamatala R&R Potato Cold Storage in Bogura, a 60-kg sack of Asterix variety of potatoes is sold at Tk 600, Pakri and Diamond varieties of potato at Tk 750. However, the production cost of the same amount of Asterix potato is Tk 1,110 and Diamond potato touches Tk 1,500.
Shamsul Islam, a farmer in the Teghari area of Shibganj upazila, told The Business Post that the losses they have been making for the last two years fan their woes about their future.
“If we keep making losses one season after another, we would have no way but to leave potato cultivation. I am thinking about opting for paddy cultivation after selling my existing potato harvest,” said the farmer.
He also requested the government to offer incentives and cash assistance to tide over the losses they have made this year. “If the government had directly bought potatoes from us, we would have sold our produce at appropriate prices,” he added.
Parimal Prasad Raj, member of Bogura District Cold Storage Owners Association and chairman of Arabic Cold Storage, told The Business Post that there are 55 cold storages in the district which stored more than 500,000 tonnes of potato. Of these, 100,000 tonnes are preserved as seeds, and the rest of them are for sale.
“Firstly, the potato yield was high this year, and it created a surplus in the market. Secondly, due to the Covid-induced lockdown, the tuber could not get transported to other districts. For these reasons, the prices of the tuber fell significantly, said Parimal.
He also hoped that the price of the tuber would be stable after a few weeks.
Agriculturist Dulal Hossain, deputy director of Bogura DAE, told The Business Post that the district has got a good yield this year due to the favourable weather.
“However, the fall in the price of potatoes is alarming for the farmers. We will see what we can do to mitigate the crisis,” added the agriculturist.
