Potato price fall in 8 N dists frustrates farmers, traders
Fall of potato price in eight northern districts has left farmers and traders in despair.
The situation seems to thwart an ambitious potato production target set by the Agriculture Department for next season.
During the last season, farmers produced record 32 lakh tonnes of potato in Rangpur, Dinajpur, Nilphamari, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts, sources said.
In absence of lack of sufficient cold storages, farmers preserved a large quantity of potato at their houses in traditional manner. A good amount of potato was also sold to other districts while rest 4,32,734 tonnes of potato was preserved in 54 cold storages in the eight districts.
Authorities' failure to motivate people for multiple use of potato, lack of facilities to export potato abroad, closure of potato-based industries in the region have put farmers and traders in trouble.
As the potato preservation season (considered to be till November 15) nearing its end, a large number of farmers and traders have started lifting potato from cold storages, leading to its additional supply and consequent price fall.
During a recent visit to different cold storages, this correspondent found that a sack of 84 kg of granula variety of potato is selling at between Tk 800 to 850, diamond variety of potato between Tk 950 to 1,000 and cardinal variety between Tk 950 to 1,030 while the prices ranged from Tk 1100 to Tk 1160 only three to four weeks ago.
Retail prices at local markets have also come down from Tk 16 a kg to Tk 12.
The total cost for a bag of potato preserved in cold storages varies form Tk 1,150 to 1,250 that includes potato price, cold storage charge, price of jute sacks, labour and transportation cost and loss of weight, said farmers and traders.
Mizanur Rahman Mojnu, a potato farmer at Itakhola village, said he preserved 100 sacks of potato in Mukta Himagar Ltd but he had to incur loss of Tk 250 per sack after lifting 40 sacks of potato for sale in market.
Mostafa Azad Chowdhury, owner of eight cold storages in Rangpur district having a total capacity of seven lakh sacks (58,000 tonnes) told this correspondent that farmers and traders lifted only 38 per cent of stored potato till yesterday although it was 65 per cent by this time last year.
The managing director of Shahan Cold Storage Ltd of Lalmonirhat district, Sheikh Abdul Hamid said the deadline for lifting potato has been extended from November 15 to 30 as the market is dull.
“I cultivated potato on 30 bighas of land last year. I shall cultivate potato in smaller area of land in the coming season as I incurred heavy loss this year,” Tauhidul Islam Tushar, a big potato farmer at Mohendra Nagar village in Lalmonirhat district, said.
Abdul Mazid, a trader at Chhoto Rauta village in Domar upazila, who stored 200 sacks of potato in Shaon Himagar Ltd, said price of potato might fall further as advance variety of potato of the new season would come to the market by mid-November.
The president of Greater Rangpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mostafa Azad Chowdhury Babu, said the authorities have failed to motivate people to take potato as substitute of rice while all of the five potato starch, potato flex and potato powder industries have been closed due to lack of patronisation.
If the potato-based industries had been in operation about six lakh tonne of potato would be needed and it could prevent fall in potato price.
If the farmers do not get reasonable price, it will have negative impact on potato cultivation in the coming season, said Abdur Rouf Siraji, additional director of the regional office of Agriculture Extension Department.
This year the Agriculture Department has set a target of producing 32.75 lakh tonne of potato on 1.7 lakh hectares of land in eight north districts.
Comments