Natural cold storage for potato preservation

The news isn't an old one. In the greater Bogra region of the country, farmers have incurred serious loss, preserving their potatoes at the cold storages. Every year, we see the same picture -- the picture of loss. Since Bangladesh produces a great amount of potatoes, we find these unwanted incidents around us. Famers stay in dilemma when they are about to preserve the potatoes at the cold storages across the country. When farmers can't match their profit with what they have spent for production, they fall into greater crisis. It again is the same old picture and repetition of the same event. Farmers invest a lot in potatoes and end of the day, they face multifaceted loss. When they don't get anyone beside them, they throw the potatoes on road in protest. I have also seen different other forms of protests, when farmers don't get fair price for their produce over the years.

In Munshiganj, Bangladesh's largest and traditional potato producing region, I have witnessed the same story. One thing is very much evident that from production of cereal crops to varieties of vegetables and different crops, success has spread steadily. Traditionally, farmers in our country tend to produce in larger quantities the crops which gave them profit last season. If the market demand is there, farmers get the profit, they feel inspired; however if the situation is unfavourable, they suffer loss. Later on, they look for money and as a result become a slave of credit and try to find another profit-earning crop. In these cases, farmers have always been in a helpless state. The market is never in their control. Even the government can't assure them the desired market price for their produce. There is no particular pre-production research on what crops would be best for them to bring onto the field. There is no guideline for them from the government mechanism. We know, the agriculture ministry has a potato advisory board. If the board wants, they can easily set goals for the seasonal production, analyze the situation beforehand, work on the preservation system and even could think of fixing the market price, which would have been easier for farmers. However, we never see these ideas put into effect.

Dear readers, the main worry regarding potato production is more severe when it comes to preservation at the cold storages. When they can't preserve their own crops, they are harassed in every step of their journey with the hope of profit. If they want to make some profit in the next season, they barely get any chance to preserve some for the purpose. In this regard, I would like you to recall the CDP (Crop Diversification Programme). They took an initiative of preserving potatoes in a natural method. In Munshiganj, they made a bamboo-shelf through which air and light could easily pass. However, following this method, farmers can preserve the potatoes for a maximum of two to two and a half months. Farmers believe this time isn't enough for them.

As I started this article, I mentioned about the Bogra issue. In the greater Bogra region, potato farmers are facing an odd time as potato price continues to decline. Farmers are counting loss in every variety of potatoes; in every sack of potatoes the loss is Tk 300 to Tk 400. On the other hand, the farmers who preserved potatoes at the cold storages and managed some petty loan from the storage authority, most of them couldn't pay back. Hence, the authority has sent them legal notice. Farmers are hiding from the administration, law and order. Generally in Bogra, by this time, 80% of potatoes go out of the storage to the market, but not even 30% went out so far. And, the cold storage association of the country informs, more than ten million tonnes of potatoes have been produced, among which in 390 cold storages, 5.3 million tonnes have been preserved.

Dear readers, I would like to share a different story, which is related to the story I'm writing now. Two years back I went to The Netherlands to witness the most-advanced farming systems, invited by the Netherlands government. During the tour, I have seen very closely the ultra-modern farming facilities, hi-tech farming, greenhouse operation and many more agricultural opportunities and research advancements, which eventually are helping farmers a lot. During the filming for Hridoye Mati O Manush, I went to a small island called Texel, which is locally known as the kingdom of sheep. You have to go across the North Sea to reach there. After the end of my work there on saline tolerant crops and sheep farms, I moved towards Lelistad, another city in the Netherlands. As you all know, the country is located well under the sea level. When I was on my way to Lelistad, lakes were on both sides of the bridge, at one point of journey. It was magnificent. How extremely wonderful it was! After crossing the bridge landscape of fields came in front of me. My travel partner was an old friend, whom many of you already know -- Dutch national Ad Spijkers, former FAO representative in Bangladesh. Since we started very early in the morning, the nature itself was changing its colour gradually and it truly was a dreamy experience. Finally, I reached my destination, PPO Lelistad, a farming research centre. You won't believe where they have taken the agricultural research. This research site is operated by Wageningen University.

This can be called the ultimate research hub of Wageningen University. The centre located in Lelistad's Flevoland also supports progressive farmers. One of them is Harry Schreuder, a potato farmer to be exact. I have involved him in this write-up because he has built a natural cold storage (run with ==wind and light from nature through automatic computerized control panel) with the help from the university's research hub. Harry cultivates on his own 50 hectares of land. He cultivates potato, carrot, onion, wheat and many more. But, potato is his main cash crop. Here, Harry can preserve for six months in his natural cold storage. This is a great advantage for Harry. Harry gets 60 tonnes of potato per hectare whereas in our country the average production per hectare is 20-25 tonnes. The only thing Harry is concerned about is climate change. But, there is no scarcity of water, so irrigation runs smooth. Harry showed me the entire natural cold storage system.

I entered the natural storage along with Harry. The bondage of technology and nature is evident inside the storage. The windows open automatically when the computerised panel directs for wind or light for a particular crop. This storage has 700-tonne capacity. Five fans work for onion and three is enough for potato. Natural wind and light is basically the key to the success where automation is only a means to manage. Moisture and ventilation is maintained through the computer programme. Harry says, the foremost requirement for such natural storage is to have an open field.

Dear readers, it was truly a pleasure visiting Harry's farm and his natural cold storage. But at the same time, I thought why we are lagging behind from doing it in our own country. The main challenge behind producing potato is the preservation of it. In Bangladesh, to save farmers from wastage of their produce, public-private partnership and funding would make it easier to build such platforms. This is not a costly venture and through this we can save a lot of farmers and a lot of produce. We have to be sure about the security of our crops as well as of our farmers. The sooner we look into this, better the result will be.