Govt fixes 8.78m tonnes potato production target

The government has fixed a target of producing 8.78 million tonnes potato from 0.45m hectares of land in the country during the 2014-2015 Robi season, official sources said. Under the programme, farmers of the country's northern region will produce 6.15m tonnes potato from over 0.31m hectares land, 70.09 per cent of the fixed national target of producing 8.78m tonnes potato this season. During the last 20113-2014 Robi season, the farmers produced 6.32m tonnes potato from 0.32m hectares land against the fixed target of producing over 6.04m tonnes from over 0.31m hectares of land in the region. The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC), Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) and other related departments have taken adequate steps to make potato farming programme successful. Associate Director -Agriculture of BRAC International (South Asia and Africa) Dr M A Mazid suggested for setting up adequate preservation facilities for potato and enhancing exports to make potato cultivation more profitable for the farmers, according to BSS.