Potato price fall frustrates Rajshahi  farmers

RAJSHAHI, Sept 20: The farmers in nine upazilas here have suffered loss of Tk 136 crore for sudden fall in market price of potato recently.
The farmers earlier stored potato for profit, but it has come of no use due to the fall in the market price.
The loss in production against per bigha is Tk 17,000 this year. As a result, the farmers have become frustrated.
Talking to The Daily Observer, some farmers said, "We are paying high rent for keeping potato in cold storage. But the price of potato has decreased at Tk 50 to 100 per sack in recent time. The price of potato per sack was Tk 1,100 to 1,200 during the harvesting period, but now it is selling at Tk 1,020 to 1,080."
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Rajshahi, "The farmers here cultivated potato on 37,000 hectares of land this season and produced 45 sacks of potato per bigha of land. Farmers here stored 26 lakh sacks of potato (per sack contains 85 kg) in the 26 cold stores in different upazilas across the district. They have to spend Tk 40,000 for meeting different costs including cultivation to keeping the produce in cold store. After meeting all costs, they are facing loss of about Tk 400 per sack and Tk 17,000 per bigha of land. As a total, the farmers will have to face loss of about Tk 136 crore in potato production this year."
Talking to The Daily Observer, a farmer Abdur Razzak of Krishnapur village under Tanore upazila here said, "I cultivated potato on around 100 bigha of lands this season and stored the product in cold store for more profit. But due to the sudden fall in market price, I am facing loss of Tk 400 per sack of potato and Tk 17,000 loss per bigha of land this year."
Lutfar Rahman, a farmer of Pachandor village under the same upazila said, "I cultivated potato on 50-bigha land this season. I am also facing loss due to the sudden fall in market price."
Ashraful Islam of Mougachhi village under Mohanpur upazila said, "I cultivated potato on around five-bigha land this season spending Tk 42,000 in per bigha of land. I got 40 sacks of potato from per bigha of land and stored them in cold store for more profit spending Tk 450 in per sack. But now, per sack of potato is being sold Tk 1,020 to 1,080. For this reason, we are facing loss of about Tk 400 in per sack of potato and Tk 17,000 in per bigha of land."
President of Cold Storage Samity Abu Bakkar said, "The farmers have loaned money for keeping potato in cold storage. But due to the continuous fall in price, most of them could not pay the cold storage fare."
In this connection, District Agriculture Officer Deb Dulal Dhali said, "The farmers here achieved bumper potato production this season. But suddenly the price of potato decreased. For this reason, farmers are facing huge loss this year. Our duty is to help famers in growing various crops and inspire them in profitable crops cultivation. It is the duty of marketing department to control the price."