Potato News from Bangladesh

Two potato varieties developed by the private firm ACI Seed are set to hit the seed potato market of Bangladesh next season, enabling farmers to produce industrial-grade potatoes that can be used for making ready-to-eat snacks

The annual demand for potatoes in Bangladesh is about 9 million tons. The Bangladesh Cold Storage Association (BCSA) urged the government to provide a BDT 9 (USD 0.11) subsidy per kilogram of potato stored in various cold storages in the country.

Facing excess potatoes, the government of Bangladesh has decided to provide all sorts of support for both export and processing

Potatoes produced by contract growers of the Bangladesh Agricultural Corporation (BADC) are now being exported to Malaysia.

Agrico's Phytophthora-resistant Next Generation varieties Carolus and Alouette are cultivated in Bangladesh. These varieties provide a solid foundation for a sustainable and healthy crop. Because of their natural resistance to Phytophthora, they have increased yield security with the least possible input. This results in an optimum return.

Bangladesh is importing two blight resistant (GM) potato lines developed at Michigan State University for a field trial. Success will save 20% yield loss and Tk100C in fungicide cost.

How do Agrico seed potatoes find their way to Bangladesh? The journey starts with the sale of the seed potatoes.

Bangladesh targets potato production of over 4 million tons just for the Rangpur division

Bangladesh imports over 2,000 tons of seed potato from the Netherlands. Varieties include Diamond, Carolus, Margarita, Barcelona, and Accent.

Potato was sold for Tk 42 to Tk 48 a kg in retail markets in the capital yesterday, a day after the government fixed the retail price at Tk 35.

This year, the potato harvest in Bangladesh was about 150% of what the domestic need is. As a result prices have crashed and despite the high yields, farmers suffer as the can not sell their product.

Commerce Minister of Bangladesh, Tipu Munshi on Saturday said Bangladesh has a surplus production of potato after meeting domestic demand. Bangladesh intends to export the surplus.

The government of the Netherlands and Dutch businesses have inked an agreement to undertake a “potato impact cluster” project in Bangladesh.

Over the last month, potato prices in Dhaka, Bangladesh have seen large increases, as supplies are tight.

Potato growers of the Thakurgaon district, Bangladesh are worried that they might not be able to recover the production cost due to sudden drop in the prices of the vegetable in the ongoing harvesting season.

At Potato Europe, Dutch traders have shown their strong interest to invest in potato farming in Bangladesh aiming to increase the production.

Cold storage operators in Bangladesh said between 15 and 20 lakh (2 million) tonnes of potato will remain unsold by the end of the year because of sluggish demand.

The potato variety Sarpo Mira, highly resistant to late blight, is getting popular among farmers in the main potato-growing areas of Bangladesh, according to both farmers and officials.