Potato exporters fear further setback after the Russian government imposed ban on import of produce from Bangladesh, industry insiders said.
Russia early this month temporarily suspended imports of potatoes from Bangladesh, citing food safety and disease risks issues.
The decision of import ban came after visit by a Russian team in Dhaka last month to assess Bangladesh's capacity controlling plant diseases and exporting disease-free potatoes.
Russia is the single largest export destination of potatoes from Bangladesh. In the last fiscal, the country accounted for more than 40 per cent of total potato export from Bangladesh.
"Potato exports saw a quantum leap in the last fiscal year (2013-14), buoyed by higher shipments to Russia. But the recent decision of Russian government will certainly put a damper on our success in the days to come," Rashidul Ahsan, an exporter of local potato to Russia told the FE Monday.
"I'm in negotiation with different Russian importers for shipment of potatoes, but the recent decision has emerged as a bar to the potential prospective business," he added.
According to Mr Ahsan, a good number of his fellow exporters has also been facing the same problem after Russia put the restriction.
"If the government fails to negotiate with the Russian government, then export of such item will even see a negative growth in the current fiscal," Ahsan added.
However, director general (DG) of the agriculture ministry's (Seed Wing), Anwar Faruque said the office has taken the issue seriously and taken steps to upgrade procedures from production to shipment level.
"Though it is not possible to convince the Russian authority to open the market right now, we are hopeful that the temporary restriction will enable us to improve our phytosanitary system to meet Russian and European standards," he added.
"We have already taken steps to upgrade our systems and infrastructure to export disease-free potatoes and vegetables."
"Fulfillment of cent per cent conditions is not possible but we are hopeful of significant up-gradation from production to export level before the next harvesting season of potato starts," the DG said.
The country during the July-April period of current financial year exported nearly 90,000 tonnes of potatoes, of which around 26,000 tonnes were exported to Russia, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
Besides, in the last financial year, local exporters exported more than 33,000 tonnes of potato to Russia-out of a total of 103,000 tonnes.
Annual demand of potatoes in Russia is around 1.0 million tonnes, of which Pakistan and India supply the major portion every year.
However, the Russian authority suggested upgrading the phytosanitary system, security measures to prevent use of fake phytosanitary certificates and proper inspection at ports to ensure shipment of safe agricultural produce.
Russian agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said a visit to the South Asian country in April 6-11 showed that Bangladesh did not put enough safety measures to prevent the entry of bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum, according to FreshFruitPortal.com, an online portal on the fruit industry.
The agency cited repeated detection of the quarantine threat, and therefore, will be implementing a temporary ban on the crop of Bangladeshi origin on May 6, said FreshFruitPortal.com.
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