Middlemen, stockists gain from potato price hike
Friday, 19 October 2007
Our Correspondent
NILPHAMARI, Oct 18: Price of potato has reached record high in Nilphamari district. Potato is being sold at Tk 22-23 per kg in the markets. As a result middlemen and stockists who kept potato in the cold storages have made huge amounts of money. On the other hand, poor and ultra poor people who depend on potato as their main curry have suffered the most.
Sources said the middlemen made profits worth more than Tk 12,000 to Tk 15,000 per tonne by keeping potato in the cold storages in the district. But the growers in the district who cultivated 16,550 hectares of land last year failed to reap the benefit of the price hike as they were unable to preserve potato in cold storages. If the growers themselves could store potato produced by them they would have been able to earn good profit which could serve as an incentive for them.
NILPHAMARI, Oct 18: Price of potato has reached record high in Nilphamari district. Potato is being sold at Tk 22-23 per kg in the markets. As a result middlemen and stockists who kept potato in the cold storages have made huge amounts of money. On the other hand, poor and ultra poor people who depend on potato as their main curry have suffered the most.
Sources said the middlemen made profits worth more than Tk 12,000 to Tk 15,000 per tonne by keeping potato in the cold storages in the district. But the growers in the district who cultivated 16,550 hectares of land last year failed to reap the benefit of the price hike as they were unable to preserve potato in cold storages. If the growers themselves could store potato produced by them they would have been able to earn good profit which could serve as an incentive for them.