Govt softens stance on new potato variety

The government has withdrawn restriction on the introduction of new varieties of potato seeds, their production and marketing for three years.

The move will enable the private sector to take newer breeds of the tuber crop to farmers’ doorstep without waiting for approval from authorities.

The agriculture ministry issued a notification in this regard last week, declaring potato a “non-notified” crop for three years since September 19, 2019, meaning there would be no control on the introduction of new and alien seeds of the popular vegetable.

The move created both optimism and concerns among stakeholders. “We have liberalised the potato seed sector to facilitate cultivation of exportable varieties to increase export of potato so that farmers get fair prices,” said Ashraf Uddin Ahmed, director general of the seed wing under the ministry.

Until recently, the government regulated the introduction of new varieties of potato and anyone willing to bring a new breed had to apply to the National Seed Board (NSB) to release the variety for cultivation.

The variety has to go through several field trials under the supervision of the Seed Certification Agency to be eligible for release and cultivation eventually. 

This process takes four to five years, according to Ahmed.

“Now anyone can import new varieties of potatoes like other vegetables and take the varieties to farmers by following some procedures,” he said.

The decision to liberalise the introduction of potato seeds, 6.7 lakh tonnes of which are required annually, comes at a time when farmers’ cry for fair prices was becoming louder owing to surplus production.

Farmers have been growing the vegetable on nearly five lakh hectares of area for the last couple of years.  

They bagged 96.55 lakh tonnes of potato last fiscal year, down marginally from that a year ago, showed the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data.

The ministry said 65-70 lakh tonnes of potatoes are consumed by households and only 50,000-60,000 tonnes are exported annually, leaving a huge amount of surplus. 

Ahmed said the varieties that are grown now do not have high demand abroad.  

Farmers mainly cultivate diamont varieties of potatoes, which are mainly consumed by households.

They also grow granola potato and some varieties namely asterix and lady rosetta for agro-processing.

“Farmers will not make profit by producing table potatoes only. We need varieties for industrial processing and to increase exports,” Ahmed said.

Officials of Tuber Crop Research Centre (TCRC) said there are a good number of varieties available for export and warned that easing of control would increase risk of infestation of alien disease in the crop.

“Exporters should go for contract farming of potato to ensure quality and disease-free production and boost export,” said a senior official of the TCRC, seeking to remain unnamed. The official said exporters seek potatoes which are larger having high dry matter content to cater to demand for processors abroad. 

But potatoes produced in Bangladesh are smaller as those are grown in 90 days compared to nearly six months in Europe, the TCRC official said. Ferdousi Begum, managing director of Ferdous Biotech, said relaxation of rules will affect tissue culture labs that produce seeds of potatoes.

“We will be badly affected for the entry of foreign seeds. We have been facing difficulties in selling seeds since 2016 because of low prices of potatoes,” she said, adding that tissue culture labs could cut import dependence for seeds to a large extent since 2010-11.

FH Ansarey, managing director and chief executive of ACI Agribusiness of ACI Ltd, said most of the seeds of potatoes are of foreign origin and good varieties of potatoes for industrial processing and value addition will come through imports because of the easing of rules.

“This is a dynamic move. This will increase competition in the sector. The government also should ease restriction on wheat and sugarcane seeds,” he said.

“Given the surplus production of potato, relaxation of rules will encourage the introduction of varieties for industrial processing and we will be able to meet both domestic and international demand,” said Wais Kabir, executive director of Krishi Gobeshona Foundation, a state sponsored agency promoting agricultural research.

“We need to have a stringent quarantine and disease management system.”