Sweet potato gains popularity

Farmers in the district are inclining to cultivating sweet potato for its high yield and good market prices.

Besides, it costs little to produce and is almost immune to diseases.

An official of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Nilphamari said 185 hectares of land were brought under sweet potato cultivation this year at a production target of 18 tonnes a hectare, while it was 170 hectares last year.

Farmers said they prefer to grow sweet potato as its yield and price are higher than potato's, and the production cost is one-fifth.

Kishoreganj Upazila Agriculture Officer Enamul Huq said, “Production cost of potato is around Tk 14,000 per bigha, while it is only Tk 3,000 for sweet potato.”

Sweet potato requires no seeds and can be cultivated on high, sandy land at very little cost by planting small pieces of the bushy plant which are preserved in a particular way after harvesting the previous year. The crop needs only small amounts of fertilizer and pesticide, Enamul said. 

Farmer Golam Mostofa of Angarpara village said, “I cultivated sweet potato on one bigha of land this year by spending Tk 3,000 and got 54 maunds yield,” adding that he sold it for Tk 32,400 at the market price of Tk 600 per maund.

Farmers Anjufor Prodhan of Domar upazila and Fozol Kadir of Kishoreganj lamented that they are compelled to sell the crop just after harvesting as there is no specialised cold storage in the area for preserving it for a longer period to sell at a time when the price is higher.

They urged the government to set up a specialised cold storage in the region so that farmers could preserve sweet potato and other perishable crops.

“Sweet potato is very nutritious food item as it contains a special type of carbohydrate which even diabetic patients can consume,” said Nilphamari Civil Surgeon Dr Abdur Rashid.

Nilphamari agriculture officer Md Mazedul Islam said, “The agriculture department encourages farmers to go for crop diversification, and they accepted our call by cultivating sweet potato on a large scale.”

“Very good quality starch, an important item for the readymade garment sector, can be prepared from sweet potato. This can save foreign currency as we presently import starch from abroad at very high price,” Mazedul said.