Profit eludes potato farmers

Although potato harvests are yet to begin in full swing in many districts, farmers across the country are witnessing a sharp fall in price.

Growers of the popular vegetable are worried over getting fair prices of their produce, which would be another blow on top of huge losses incurred from other edibles, including cauliflower and cabbage.

The price started dropping some 10 days back, said farmers. 

Farmers said those being sold right from the field to traders were going for Tk 8 to Tk 10 per kilogramme (kg), excluding labour cost, depending on variety, quality and moisture content.

At local retail markets, one kg of potato was available at Tk 12 to Tk 15. 

The crop is sown from October to December every year and is ready for harvest within three months. The peak time for harvest begins from the end of February, said farmers. 

Diamond, Granola, Asterix and Holland are popular varieties cultivated in the northern and other areas in the country, said the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).

The DAE estimates that farmers planted the tuber on 4.86 lakh hectares in the current season, up 4 per cent from 4.65 lakh hectares in the previous season which fell under fiscal 2019-20.

Farmer Abu Taleb of Ramzibanpur village under Dinajpur sadar upazila said sowing of the early varieties was profitable.

But only a handful of farmers can reap the benefit of getting profitable prices, he said, adding that most farmers in his area cultivate potato after harvesting Amanpaddy.

Taleb sowed potato on four bighas of land this year. He said prices started falling rapidly recently. Just two weeks ago, he profited on selling his potato at Tk 18 per kg.

However, as harvesting gained pace and more potatoes started arriving in the market, prices began to fall.

On Monday, he had to opt for just half the prices, at Tk 9, which was 12 per cent less than his production cost of Tk 10.26 per kg.

"If the falling trend in prices continues, I will suffer massive losses," Taleb said, adding that he invested Tk 55,000 behind each bigha of land. 

He said to have already harvested potatoes from most of the four bighas of land, getting around 80 bags (67 kg per bag) of produce per bigha.

At the prevailing price, Taleb would suffer a loss of Tk 30,000 from potato this season. This would be another blow for the grower as he incurred losses from other winter crops including cauliflowers and cabbages.

"I am still selling each piece of cabbage at Tk 3," he said.

The situation is worse for marginal farmers.

For example, Anwar Hossain, another farmer of the same village, said he had sowed potato on 67 decimals of rented land spending Tk 25,000 and had to sell his entire harvest at Tk 8,000.

He pays the owner Tk 8,000 every year. "After paying all these, my profit is almost zero from potato this season," he said.

Toroni Chandra Sarkar, a farmer of Narayanpur village in Nawabganj upazila of Dinajpur, said he suspended making harvests from 3.5 bighas of land on coming to know about the low prices prevailing in the markets.

He would delay harvest by two to three weeks with hopes of a rebound in the market.

Other farmers of the district, however, said prices would drop further during the peak in harvests, especially from early March.

"If the harvesting starts on a massive scale, prices would largely fall," said Azizul Islam, another farmer of Dinajpur sadar upazila.

Traders will profit by storing the potato in cold storages, he said.

Md Manik, a wholesale buyer of potato in Kaharol upazila, said he was purchasing only good quality of potato from farmers paying Tk 11 per kg.

Talking to The Daily Star over the phone, he said he stores potatoes at various cold storages every season and that the price increases from mid-April.

Md Moniruzzaman, deputy director of the DAE unit at Rangpur, said there was an increase in potato farming this season. As a result, risk of losses increased for farmers, he said

Mohammad Yousuf, director general of the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM), said the production cost had increased for farmers as they had spent a higher amount behind seeds this season.

"We are yet to finalise the cost of production. However, it is likely to be nearly Tk 10 each kilogramme," he said.

The DAM estimated the production cost to be Tk 8.92 per kg the previous season.

Prices at the farm level should be at Tk 12-Tk 13 a kg. Otherwise farmers will be unable to make a profit, he said.