Potato prices increased by 8-8.6 per cent in the city kitchen market in the last two days, despite record harvest this year.
Officials and market insiders blamed big traders and allied cold storage owners for the unusual hike.
Production of the produce hit a record 8.95 million tonnes in the year to June 30, the latest data from state-run Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) showed.
Price of granola variety potato, which is available throughout the year, increased by Tk1-2 per kg and was selling at Tk 25-26 per kg now, which was Tk 23-24 two days back.
Md Anisur Rahman, a vendor at Azimpur Graveyard area in the city, said that big traders pushed up the price.
"Price of potato is Tk110 per palla (5 kg) today (Monday), which was Tk 98-100 on Saturday at Karwan Bazar," he said.
Belal Hossain, a wholesaler at Rayer Bazar in the city, said that the price has increased at the village level.
He said potato is now being traded between Tk 17-18 per kg at cold storage level, which was Tk16-16.5 per kg two weeks back.
It showed potato output achieved 4.03 per cent growth in FY'14 over that of FY'13 when production touched 8.603 million tonnes-then a record high.
The statistics showed 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.
An official at the Department of Agriculture Marketing (DAM) said granola variety of potato, which is now being sold at Tk 24-26 per kg across the country, was traded at only Tk1.0-1.5 per kg in the harvesting season against output cost of nearly Tk 5.5-6.0 per kg.
Delowar Jahan, chairman of Subaltern Communication Research Centre (SCRC), an organisation for marginal people said farmers and consumers got no benefit from the bumper production.
"Farmers got no profit from the hike. Growers and consumers are now buying the item at higher price from the market", he said.
"To help both the common consumers and farmers, the easy and only way is to increase storage capacity of the farmers," he said. "Farmers never intend to manipulate market".
According to the Directorate General of Food (DGoF), the annual demand for the carbohydrate-rich vegetable now stands at 6.8 to 7.0 million tonnes, indicating a 2.1-2.4 million tonnes of surplus production.
The country's 373 cold storages have a capacity to preserve 4.0 million tonnes of potato, Bangladesh Cold Storage Association said.
