Potato output hits record 8.95m tonnes in FY\\\'14

Potato production reached all-time high of 8.95 million tonnes in the fiscal year (FY) 2013-14, thanks to the increase in acreage by farmers, officials said.
But experts said that cold storage owners and big traders ate up the benefits of the bumper crop output in the last financial year, leaving farmers to incur huge losses.    
They suggested setting up community-based cold storage to safeguard against the peasantry from such depression.  
However, potato output achieved 4.03 per cent growth in FY'14 over that of FY'13 when production touched 8.603 million tones-then a record high.
The state-run Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), in its latest survey, said cultivated land of potato also increased to 0.462 million hectares in FY'14--a 4.05 per cent increase compared with that of FY'13 when farmers grew the tuber crop on 0.444 million hectares of land.
The production of the crop witnessed a negative growth in FY'12 when it fell 2.08 per cent to 8.205 million tonnes, BBS data showed.
Bidhan Baral, a deputy director at BBS told the FE, that the growers got a minimum profit for potato in FY'13, which helped increase the acreage in FY'14.
"Higher acreage, use of balanced fertiliser, modern seed varieties, integrated pest management and more or less a suitable weather during the growing stage helped get a record crop," he said.
"But per hectare yield was almost stagnant in FY'14 compared with FY'13-a 19.37 tonnes per hectare," he said.
Director general of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Md Abdul Mannan said per hectare yield was stagnant in last FY due to early harvest of the crop in many places following sudden fall of price in January.
"Growers were in a dilemma over collection. Many collected their crops much earlier to avoid massive losses," he said.           
 He recognised that big traders became beneficiaries in FY'14 potato season while farmers incurred huge losses.
"The price debacle in the harvesting season came as a boon for cold storage owners, big traders and seasonal stockists, but it hurt general consumers and farmers," Subal Sarker, secretary of Bhumiheen Samity, an organisation of landless farmers said.
"Farers got no profit from the hike. Growers and consumers are now buying the item at higher price from the market", he said.
"Public storage capacity should be increased and access of farmers to cold storages should be ensured to boost production in coming year," he said.
Farm economist ASM Golam Hafiz Kennedy said granola variety of potato, which is now being sold at Tk 22-25 per kg across the country, was traded at only Tk1.0-1.5 per kg in the harvesting season by farmers.
"The production cost of granola variety was nearly Tk 5.5-6.0 per kg in FY'14, which means farmers failed to cash back even one fourth of their investment," he said.    
Mr Kennedy said 95 per cent farmers have no access to privately-run cold storages.
He suggested providing credit to the farmers to introduce community-based small cold storages so that peasants can reserve potato and sell it at a favourable time.
Annual demand for the carbohydrate-rich vegetable now stands at 6.8 to 7.0 million tonnes, according to the Directorate General of Food (DGoF), indicating a 2.1m-2.4 m tonnes of surplus production
The country's 373 cold storages have a capacity to preserve 4.0 million tonnes of potato.