Potato farmers are now facing hardship as the prices of their produce have sharply declined during this harvesting period.
They have attributed the ongoing non-stop blockade, enforced by the BNP-led 20-party combine, to the sharp fall in the prices of potato.
Prices of different varieties of potatoes plummeted from Tk 8-14 per kg to Tk 4.15-6 at farmers' end in last ten days, according to Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM).
But potato is selling in between at Tk 18 and Tk 24 per kg (different varieties) in big cities like Dhaka, Chittagong, Narayanganj and Sylhet.
Districts in Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions as well as Bogra, Munshiganj, Manikganj, Narsingdi and Kushtia are known as the country's biggest potato producers.
Sobhan Ali, a farmer who lives in Pashchim Chhatnai union under Dimla upazila in Nilphamari, said the prices of granular variety came down to Tk 345-350 per sack (85 kg) in a week against the production cost of Tk 520-530 per sack.
"We hoped to recoup the losses we incurred last year when potato prices fell to Tk 120-130 per sack," he said.
Best quality cardinal variety of potato is selling at Tk 520-550 per sack (85 kg) which was Tk 1,050-1,100 a few days back, he said, adding that traders are not buying the produce following the blockade which has made it difficult for them to supply the item to big cities.
Md Akram Ali, a trader at Shatibari union under Mithapukur upazila in Rangpur, said truck owners are not willing to run their vehicles fearing vandalism on the highways.
Halt in transportation has been forcing them to avoid buying potato, he said.
Sunil Chandra Dhar, deputy director at monitoring unit under Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), said many farmers cultivated potato on a large scale this season only to avoid massive plunge in prices in February like that of last year.
He said harvest of potato will increase significantly in the first week of next month, adding that the country produced 8.95 million tonnes of potato in the last financial year (FY'14).
The output target has been fixed at 8.9 million in the current financial year, he said, adding that potato price in Bangladesh hit its lowest level during the last season from January to February 2014.
Many potato farmers failed to get back even 30 per cent of their investment during the last season, he said. "Robust production and lack of storage capacity were key reasons behind the price debacle."
However, cold storage charge for storing potato is now Tk 4.2-4.5 per kg across the country, according to Bangladesh Cold Storage Association (BCSA).
According to Directorate General of Food (DGoF), annual demand for potato in the country is 6.5-7.0 million tonnes against its production of 8.95 million tonnes.
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