Baghmara farmers expect bumper potato yield

RAJSHAHI, Dec 9: The farmers in Baghmara upazila here are expecting bumper production of potato this year. Now, they are passing busy time in taking care of the potato plants.
Meanwhile, some of them have already started to sell potato in the markets and are getting bumper price. Now, one kg potato is being sold at Tk 70. While visiting different areas in the upazila, this correspondent found the farmers busy in in their potato fields where they are using different pesticides.
Potato is also the cash crop in the upazila, said sources in the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Baghmara.
According to the DAE sources, the potato cultivation target was fixed at 12,710 hectares of land in the upazila, and of those, around 3,900 ha have been brought under local varieties and 8,810 ha under uphshi varieties this year.
There are four cold storages in the upazila where the farmers can easily stock their potato, the sources added.  
While talking to The Daily Observer, Nazrul Islam Palash, a potato grower of Daspara village under Maria union in the upazila said, "I cultivated potato in one bigha of land this year. The potato plants have grown well, and I am now passing busy times in taking care of the plants. I hope to get bumper production this year."
Ishak Ali, another farmer of the same village, said, "I have cultivated potato in two bighas of land this year. The lively growth of the potato plants is signalling a bumper output this year. If there is no pest attack, all the farmers here will achieve bumper potato yield this year."
Upazila Agriculture Officer Rajibur Rahman said, if weather remains favourable till the harvesting period and there is no pest attack, there would be a bumper production of potato in the upazila this year.