Potato growers in Bangladesh face uncertainty despite bumper crop

Hundreds of thousands of potato growers in Bangladesh face uncertainty despite bumper production of this major cash crop in the current year. This newspaper pinpointed a dual cause - falling price and absence of cold storage facilities - behind the problem with excess potato output in its issue of August 5 last. Against the demand of about 8.0 million tonnes, the total production of potato exceeded 10.0 million tonnes, Acting Chairman of Bangladesh Cold Storage Association Md. Mosharraf Hossain told the FE as published in the report . The stock of potato in the cold storage remains unsold as the farmers have adequate quantity of the produce available at their disposal now.

Reports reaching from countryside say that the growers are offered prices for the potato much below the production cost. According to a report, majority of potato growers in Rangpur district where huge stock of the produce is still kept in the fields under the open sky have decided not to cultivate it in the next season.

In the backdrop of favourable weather and availability of agri inputs, farmers were encouraged to bring more land under potato cultivation. According to an estimate, about 0.45 million hectares of land all over the country were brought under potato cultivation this year. Now the farmers, particularly those who borrowed from village money lenders at exorbitant rate of interest, are the worst hit. In many places the selling price of potato falls far short of production cost. Earning of profit which the growers once dreamt is next to impossible.