Potato farmers in Nilphamari are frustrated by falling prices. Photo: STAR

Favourable weather conditions and higher acreage are likely to boost potato yield in the ongoing harvesting season and have already pulled down the tuber's prices, agriculture officials and cold storage operators said yesterday.
In the current season, farmers planted potatoes on 4.6 lakh hectares of land, up from 4.3 lakh hectares last season, said Rafiqul Hasan, deputy director (monitoring) of the Department of Agricultural Extension, citing preliminary estimates.
Potato prices have already halved to Tk 14-15 a kilogram in the city markets, compared to the prices a month ago, according to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh produced 82.05 lakh tonnes in 2011-12, down from 83.26 lakh tonnes in the previous year, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
"Harvesting is going on and production is good so far. We expect potato output to rise this season, as the weather was favourable and the extent of pest attack was very low," said Hasan.
"Farmers have grown potatoes in more of their lands, encouraged by better prices in the last one year," said Jasim Uddin, chairman of Bangladesh Cold Storage Association, which preserves potatoes to help farmers sell the produce during the off-season.
The rainfall in the last couple of days is also a boon for a good harvest, he said.
However, the association has hiked rents by 12.5 percent to Tk 4.5 per kg this season from Tk 4 a year ago due to the rising power tariff and interest rates of bank loans, Jasim Uddin said.
In the current year, nearly 41 lakh tonnes of potatoes, including the seed ones, are likely to be preserved in cold storages, up from 40 lakh tonnes last year.