High potato yields bring no smile

Farmers are worried about fall in price and space crisis in cold storages although they have achieved a bumper potato production in the Barind region this year.

A sack of potatoes weighing 85kg are selling at the production cost of Tk 750, said the growers. The price, however, was Tk 1,020 during harvest two weeks ago, they added.

“I see a great danger ahead if the authorities don't pay attention immediately,” said Abdur Razzak, who grew potatoes on 100 bighas of land in Tanore upazila of Rajshahi.

The growers blamed a syndicate of buyers and cold storage operators for lowering potato prices by creating an “artificial space constraint”.

Most of the operators in Rajshahi started asking the growers not to bring potatoes to the cold storages on plea of space constraints. Even, those who booked spaces earlier are being asked the same.

Eventually, the farmers are selling out the crop from the cold storage gates and fields, and the customers are offering low prices, they said.

This year, the Depart-ment of Agriculture Extension so far recorded 12.5 lakh tonnes of production from 69,888 hectares of land, which is three times higher than the capacity of total 42 cold storages in Rajshahi, Chapai-nawabganj, Natore and Naogaon covering the Barind region.

The production is likely to reach around 15 lakh tonnes of potatoes at the end of harvest, said Ahsan Habib Khan, DAE Rajshahi regional monitoring officer.

Of the cold storages, 30 are in Rajshahi, said Abu Bakkar Ali, president of Rajshahi Cold Storage Association, denying allegations of the artificial crisis.

“All the potatoes will not be stored here, some will be carried to many other districts across the country for sale,” he said, adding that a temporary space constraint has occurred as the farmers are trying to store their produce all together fearing damage from rain.

“It will be alright in several days,” he said.

During a visit to Poba and Tanore upazilas of Rajshahi, this correspondent witnessed a mad rush of farmers for finding spaces in cold storages.

The growers piled up hundreds of potato sacks beside Mundumala road at Debipur in Tanore.

Enamul Haque, a grower of Dhuroil, said he was not allowed to store his 1,000 sacks of potatoes in a cold storage although he booked space earlier.

“...I will incur loss if I have to sell potatoes at low price like others,” he said.

Moslem Uddin, a grower of Kaliganj in Tanore, alleged that some cold storage owners employed people to buy potatoes and selling out to different cold storages across the country.

Nur-A-Alam, manager of Aman Cold Storage Ltd in Poba, however, said they are receiving potatoes from only the listed growers and traders.