Home ›› 02 Nov 2022 ›› Nation
The falling prices of potatoes vegetable are worrying farmers as over half of the vegetable stored in the cold storages of Munshiganj are yet to be sold.
Farmers said selling potatoes at the current market rate will not cover the production cost. In addition, the shelf life of potatoes in cold storage is coming to an end.
Both the farmers and the cold storage owners are worried about the unsold potatoes in such a situation.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Munshiganj, in the six upazilas of the district, 11.5 lakh tonnes potatoes have been cultivated on 35,800 hectares of land this year.
About 5.5 lakh tonnes of potatoes have been stored in the 64 cold storages currently active in the district.
Farmers said currently a 50 kg bag of potato is selling for Tk 700-750 and per kg for Tk 14-15. However, the production cost per kg potato is about Tk 18-20 including plantation, harvest, transportation, and storage rent.
Farmers have been storing potatoes for a long time in hopes of covering production costs. But the continuous fall in prices has left farmers frustrated.
Farmer Giasuddin Molla, of Makhati village of Mollakandi union, said last year he faced a loss of Tk 9 lakh as he could not sell the potatoes in time. Though he stored fewer amount of potatoes this year, however, the prices cannot cover the production cost.
Bachchu Mia, a farmer of Maheshpur village in Sadar upazila, said the prices of almost all daily necessities have increased. However, the price of per 50 kg sack of potato is Tk 700-750 but the production cost is around Tk 950.
Hridoy Islam, assistant manager of Combined Food and Cold Storage of Tongibari upazila, said this season 1.2 lakh sacks of potatoes have been stored in their storage and about half of it has been sold.
“We charge Tk 220 per sack to be stored here. The farmers have not sold all the potatoes due to low prices,” he said.
Sofiul Alam, manager of Yunus Cold Storage of Baligaon village in the same upazila, said, “The storing contract ends on November 30 but over half of the stored potatoes still remain. It seems unlikely that all the potatoes can be sold on time.”
Meanwhile, Saiful Islam, manager of Medina Cold Storage of Baghia village, said they have a capacity of
storing 4.5 lakh sacks of potatoes and this season 3.5 lakh sacks of potatoes were stored.
“A total of 2.15 lakh sacks of potatoes have been sold so far. We are unsure if the farmers will be able to sell the rest on time,” he added.
Manager Rafiqul Islam Khan of Samrat Cold Storage in Sirajdikhan upazila said there is only a month left before the storage is closed for the winter. Out of the 1.9 lakh sacks of potatoes stored, only 61,000 sacks have been sold. He believes the farmers will not be able to sell all in time.
Ponchoshar Cold Storage of the district is in a similar situation with over 80,000 sacks of potatoes still in storage.
Deputy Director of District DAE Md Khurshid Alam said the demand for potatoes in Bangladesh is 80 lakh tonnes, however, the production is 1.1 crore tonnes.
“Due to the huge surplus, prices have been falling. We have advised the farmers to cultivate some other crops but they refuse to,” he said, adding that the farmers of Munshiganj are not hardworking and want to stick to the trade they know even after facing continuous losses.
