Cold storages in Joypurhat are still full as farmers are not collecting the stored potatoes due to low price in the markets.

Farmers in the district are busy cultivating potato this season with the hope of overcoming the losses they suffered last season due to low prices.

District Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Deputy Director (DD) Surendranath Roy said around 42,000 hectares will be brought under potato farming this year with a production target of 10.30 tonnes.

The district is the 2nd largest potato producing district in the country, he added.

Potato growers suffered massive losses as the market prices of potatoes started dropping from August this year. Besides, the flood, which hit the region in mid-August, also hampered storage of potatoes.

Farmers who stored potatoes in cold storage for earning high profit are not collecting those to save themselves from losses due to low market price. “Farmers pay Tk 300 to the cold storage for storing each bag (75kg) of potatoes, while the farmers can hardly save Tk 200 from the selling price after deducting associated costs like transport,” said Md Rafiqul Islam of Kalai upazila of Joypurhat.

Potatoes are selling at Tk 7 to Tk 8 per kg in local markets.

Shishir Mondal of Hanail village in Sadar upazila said he spent Tk 16,000 last year to cultivate potatoes on 50 decimals of land and got 80 maunds of potatoes, adding that he sold half of his produce for Tk 8,000 and kept the rest at a local cold storage so he could recover from the loss by selling it later.

“Abundant production is the key reason behind the dip,” he observed. He is cultivating potatoes on the same area this year, Shishir said.

Price of potato seeds have also dropped, said Bakul Hossain of Mundail village in Khetlal upazila. Besides, paddy production was not satisfactory this year because of flood at the onset of the cultivation season, he said.  

“Farmers have been passing hard days due to the adverse weather and low market rate of their produce,” said Golam Rabbani of Mundail village.

There are 16 cold storages in the district, DAE officials said. Most of them usually become empty after November every year, but the farmers are not willing to collect their potatoes due to low price, a cold storage operator said.

“Cold storage operators suffer loss too if farmers do not collect their potatoes,” said Golam Mostafa, manager of Abir Specialised Cold Storage in Kalai upazila. One lakh sixty-five thousand three hundred and twenty bags were stored in his plant this year, he said, adding that most farmers have not collected their bags as yet. The cold storage is likely to suffer Tk 3 crore losses this year, he said.

DD Surendranath said bumper production is the reason for price fall this year, but he is hoping that growers will get good price in the coming days.