Potato prices going up at farm level

Potato prices at farm level are moving upward, bringing some relief for farmers who are harvesting the vegetable now.
But despite the increase, the prices are still below the production costs, farmers said.
"Prices of potato have increased to Tk300-350 (Granola) per 100 kg sack this month which was Tk100-150 per sack last month in my area",  said Reazul Hoque, a farmer at Shotibari under Mithapukur upazila in Rangpur district.
He said cardinal variety sold at Tk650-700 per sack which was Tk250-300 ten days back.  
"I cultivated granola variety of potato in four bighas of land at a cost of Tk21,000. Potatoes were harvested in two bighas from which I got 20 sacks", he said.
"The current market price of per bigha produce (10 sacks) is hardly Tk2,500 for which I spent Tk5,200", he said.
Another farmer Gahar Ali at Aditmari of Lalmonirhat district told the FE that he was in a hurry in harvesting potatoes as he needed money badly for Boro cultivation in the last part of February.
"I sold 30 sacks of diamond variety potato at only Tk7,500 whose price is now Tk15,500", he said.
"Wholesalers and big traders have eaten up the profits", he said.
"Many of the farmers were forced to harvest early due to the need of money and it also led to lower production", he said.
Abdul Jalil, Additional Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Rangpur region, told the FE that 70 per cent harvesting was completed in eight districts of the region out of its 0.171 million hectares of potato lands.
He said the price of potato has, however, started increasing in the region which is a good sign for the farmers.
He said many farmers harvested potatoes untimely. This  might have caused a fall in overall output. However, according to the DAE Monitoring Unit, potato acreage increased to 0.469 million hectares in the country this year which was 0.419 million hectares last year.

The country saw a record 8.6 million tonnes potato production last year.
The DAE data showed that 75 per cent of the potato harvest was completed by Thursday.
Farm economist ASM Golam Hafiz Kennedy said price debacle will be persisting unless the storage capacity is improved.
The potato storage capacity is private sector-based where common farmers have no access.
"Cold storage owners directly or indirectly dominate the market and most of the benefits from the potato sector go to their pockets", he said.
"The government has to initiate community-based cold storages at every union to protect the farmers from any price debacle", he said.
"To ensure food security of the country, the government has to motivate farmers so that they remain in farming and it is possible through providing them with initial subsidies" he said.
The farmers, who incurred a massive financial loss in potato farming this year should be compensated, he said.
However, potato prices stood at Tk10-12 per kg (Dhaka, Chittagong) and Tk6-7 per kg (Rangpur, Rajshahi), nearly 100-250 per cent higher prices compared to those at the farm level, the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) officials said.   
According to the Directorate General of Food (DGoF), annual demand for potato is 6.5-7.0 million tonnes against production of 8.6 million tonnes.