Sohel Parvez

A bumper yield of potato has now become a matter of concern for growers and traders as demand for the tuber declined for the ongoing countrywide lockdown.

Exports also could not help producers as the quantity of shipments edged up marginally, leaving farmers in a situation that does not usher hope to post profit, as only four months remain before the arrival of fresh harvests.

“The situation is very bad this year. It has become tough to sell potato. It appears that there would be no escape from losses,” said Mazharul Islam, a potato farmer in Joypurhat, one of the main potato producing districts in the north.

Islam stored nearly 4.5 tonnes of the vegetable this year in cold storage. This includes 3.6 tonnes of potatoes that he grew on his own fields. He bought the rest during the peak harvesting season to store and sell in the lean period.

At the cold storage gates in his area, traders are offering Tk 700 for each 60-kilogramme bag of potato, which is around Tk 12 per kg.

His costing per bag stands at Tk 1,050 or Tk 17.5 per kilogramme.

“If I sell now, my losses will be Tk 350 per bag,” he added.

Farmers produced 1.06 crore tonnes of potato this calendar year, up 10 per cent from 96 lakh tonnes in calendar year 2020, shows data from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

And encouraged by high prices of the popular vegetables for recurrent floods and public and voluntary distribution among poor people following outbreak of Covid-19 last year, farmers and traders stored increased quantity of the tuber vegetable this year.

Bangladesh Cold Storage Association (BCSA) estimates that growers and traders stored 55 lakh tonnes of potato this year to sell during the lean season.

Of the quantity, roughly 10 lakh tonnes will be used for seed and the rest for consumption.

And BCSA President Mosharraf Hossain said 30 per cent of the vegetable stored in cold storages has been released since June, when farmers begin to sell tubers from storages.