Potato farmers suffer loss for price fall at Tanore   

RAJSHAHI, Nov 12: Farmers in Tanore Upazila here have become frustrated and are facing loss due to sudden fall in potato price.
They are incurring loss of about Tk 17,000 per bigha of potato land, sources said.
Talking to The Daily Observer, some farmers said they are paying high rent for keeping potato in cold storage. But, the price has decreased at Tk 50 to Tk 100 per sack of potato in recent times. It was Tk 1,100 to 1,200 during the harvesting time, but now it is being sold at Tk 1,050 per sack, the farmers added.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) at Tanore Upazila, the farmers here cultivated potato on 14,000 hectares of land this season and produced 45 sacks of potato per bigha of land. But, they have to spend about Tk 40,000 behind production and keeping potato in cold storage which are produced per bigha of land. After meeting all costs, they are facing loss of about Tk 17,000 per bigha of land.
While talking to The Daily Observer, Abdur Razzak, a farmer of Krishnapur Village in the upazila said, "I cultivated potato on around 100-bigha land this season and after harvesting, I stored it in cold storage for earning more profit. But I am worried now as the price has fallen in the market."
Lutfar Rahman, another farmer of Pachandor Village in the upazila, said, "I cultivated potato on 50-bigha land this season. I am facing loss in per bigha of land due to the sudden fall of price."
In this connection, Upazila Agriculture Officer Shafiqul Islam said, "The farmers here achieved bumper potato production this season. But the sudden fall in price has frustrated them. The cold storage authority should consider the rent rate in this
connection."