Potato Advisory Board sits today to salvage growers

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Munima Sultana
A specialised board on potato sits today (Sunday) to find out ways of proper utilisation of this season's bumper production of the crop to save thousands of potato growers from facing financial loss.
Officials said Potato Advisory Board, headed by Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, will discuss the overall potato production situation of the country, and seek opinions from its members to find out ways of overcoming the problems to help the growers get optimum prices.
Representatives from the private sector, including farmers, cold storage owners and food industrialists, will be present in the meeting.
Officials said the board meeting has been called to expedite the efforts taken by the government for proper utilisation of excess potatoes and for helping the growers survive.
"The meeting might discuss the possibility of increasing the capacity of the country's cold storages, popularising usage of local storage techniques, setting up more potato-based industries, and encouraging people to consume more potatoes by changing their food habit," said Anwar Faruque, director general of Seed Wing.
The agriculture ministry formed the Potato Advisory Board in January to promote potato cultivation, increase production and ensure its various usages in the country.
Bangladesh Cold Storage Association chairman Mohammad Jasimuddin said they are likely to place some recommendations in the meeting to ensure a balance in demand and supply of the crop throughout the year and to obtain its bumper production every season by providing fair prices to the farmers.
"Efforts are necessary to keep the smile of the farmers on, so that they feel encouraged to cultivate potato in the future," he told the FE.
Official statistics said the potato production is expected to exceed the target by more than 1.0 million tonnes, as the total production has already reached 8.0 million tonnes against the target of 7.2 million tonnes.
At present the country has the capacity to store only 2.2 million tonnes of potato including 0.7 million tonnes as seed in 300 cold storages. The demand for potato was around 6.0 million tonnes in 2009.
Meanwhile, potato exporters demanded 20 per cent cash incentive against potato export, as there is a demand for about 1.0 million tonnes of potato in the south Asian countries.
Earlier, an inter-ministerial meeting also agreed in principle to encourage potato export by increasing cash incentive to 20 per cent from 10 per cent to help its growers get fair prices in the wake of a bumper production this season.