Northern farmers growing export quality potato

Farmers in the northern districts have grown 450 metric tonnes of Santana potato, a high yielding Dutch commercial variety, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said Sunday.

They also produced Diamond, Cardinal, Granola, and Asterix varieties that have high demand in Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Four potato producer cooperatives jointly organised this year’s potato export festival in Pairabandh, Mithapukur – the third consecutive annual festival.

FAO organised a pre-season buyer-seller meeting for officials from the Bangladesh Potato Exporters’ Association (BPEA) to meet smallholder farmers. BPEA officials liaised with foreign buyers to get specifications and orders. The producers were also able to procure seeds from exporters at an affordable price.

FAO provided good agricultural practice training to 100 farmers – more than half of them women – from four cooperatives under the ‘Missing Middle Initiative’ project. They also received pre-production, inspection, and post-harvest assistance, FAO said in a press release.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, farmers cultivated potatoes on more than 4,80,000 hectares this year. The yield will be more than 11 million metric tonnes (MT), but domestic demand is only about 7.7 million MT.

Only around one-fourth of total production can be stored in cold storage. Unsold surplus production and post-harvest losses amount to $290 million to $400 million. The government has been encouraging exports to prevent this significant loss.

FAO Representative in Bangladesh Robert D Simpson said: “In order to truly thrive, the potato export value chain requires a productive alliance between all involved — the government, private sector, and producer organisations.

“Bangladesh has a lot of potentials to grow commercial and export varieties of potatoes. We are working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture to boost potato exports to strengthen food security and increase incomes for farmers and farming communities.”

Arif Azad Prince, Managing Director of MASAWA Corporation, an agro-processing and export company, said the potato producer cooperatives ensured good agricultural practices to grow quality potatoes and collectively sell potatoes to their company.

“We offer fair prices to the farmers and our importers get shipments as desired. The result is that Bangladesh’s potato value chain has a strong reputation among all stakeholders.”