Chandpur farmers sceptical about fair price of potato

FE Team | Published: April 18, 2026 22:20:34

OUR CORRESPONDENT
CHANDPUR, Apr 18: All eight upazilas of Chandpur district, including Kachua and Matlab Dakhshin, have seen a bumper yield of potato this season; yet the farmers are sceptical about getting fair price of their produce.
They think this time too the deserving price of potato may dodge them.
According to official sources and Kachua upazila agriculture officer Topu Ahmed, a total of 1869 hectares of land were brought under potato cultivation this season against the official target of 1,825 hectares in the upazila this season.
While visiting some areas recently, this correspondent observed that farmers in Kachua were awfully busy from dawn to dusk collecting potatoes from their fields before the monsoon starts.
Talking to the FE, some growers- Ibrahim Mia , Mohor Ali and his brother Jahed Ali and others of Rahimanagar, Kadla and Koroiyya areas said like last year, they have got bumper yield of potato this season too. But the fact is, they are afraid, they are unlikely to get the fair price of the crop this time.
Yet, driven by acute penury and financial hardship, many farmers are selling potato to the middlemen in fields at the rate of Tk10-12 per kg.
In that case, how will they repay their installments of loan taken from cooperative organisations and NGOs?
That is why most potato growers are worried about paying back loan money, not to speak of getting profit.
At present, the price of potato per kg is Tk14-15 in rural haats and bazars. But in Chandpur Sadar upazila's haats and bazars, it is sold at Tk18 per kg. In the town's vegetable markets, potato is sold at Tk20 per kg.
The middlemen, who buy potatoes directly from the marginal farmers in the fields, are very much benefited for the cheap prices.
In Matlab Dakhshin upazila also, farmers have got a bumper yield of potato this season due to favorable weather, no-pest attack etc. But most of the growers are doubtful about getting the fair price of potato in the rural haats and bazars.
According to upazila agriculture officer Chaitanya Paul, potato was cultivated in two municipal areas and five unions of the upazila.
A total of 1,907 hectares of land were brought under potato cultivation as against the target of 1,907 hectares and the target was fulfilled.
He added Matlab Paura area, Narayanpur Paura area, Nayergaon South and North, Upadhi
South, Upadhi North and Khadergaon unions are the major potato producing areas in
this upazila..
During a recent visit, the FE correspondent observed that many farmers along with their near ones were too much busy collecting potatoes from their fields.
Meanwhile, despite bumper yield of potato, many farmers, including Billal Hossain of Dogorpur village and Shah Alam Prodhan of Nayergaon village, told the FE that they were encountering problems with their produce as the local two cold storages- Marshal Cold Storage and Nayergaon Cold Storage- remained already over-filled with potatoes.
There was no space left to accommodate surplus potato inside the cold storages- said Marshal Cold Storage manager Ziaur Rahman. That is why many growers are on the horns of dilemma.
Being disappointed, most are preserving their own potatoes at home in stereotype system as an alternative. For want of proper preservation, many potatoes are reportedly getting rotten.
In Matlab Uttar, farmer Solaiman ( a resident of Bahadurpur village under Mohonpur union) said he dreamed of getting a bumper yield of potato from his 500-decimal field this season but his dream was shattered by a recent torrential rainfall.
He took loan from a microcredit firm and NGOs to produce the targeted yield but in vain. He is now helpless and hopeless.
With tears rolling down from eyes, he said that he had suffered a huge loss by cultivating potato last year too. This year he had a hope to repay the outstanding loans by selling potatoes; but all his dream turned to dust.
In Chandpur Sadar upazila, there has been a bumper yield of potato in all the 14 unions. The target of potato cultivation was fixed at 1,550 hectares and the target was fulfilled, said the upazila agriculture officer.
The same news of the potato cultivation target getting fulfilled was found from other upazilas too.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Chandpur, potato cultivation target was fixed at 6,952 hectares of land across the district this season.
The target was fulfilled, according to the latest information received from the upazila offices.
The total yield of potato has been a little more than 1,79,000 tonnes.
The yield per hectare has been 26 tonnes on an average- confirmed agriculture officer Mohammad Mobarak Hossain in DAE, Chandpur office.
He added, "There are 11 cold storages in Chandpur Sadar, Hajiganj, Kachua and Matlab Dakhshin upazilas. A total of 62,750 tonnes of potato have been stored as food in the cold storages while 17, 100 tonnes of potato have been kept as potato seeds in those facilities.''
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