Farmers and traders in the five upazilas of Joypurhat lifted their potatoes from the fields and put them into cold storage in the hope of a profit. Prices were low at the start of the season, so they held the crop back. Now the potatoes they stored to sell at higher prices have become a burden, with a loss of Tk 200 to Tk 300 on every sack.

Farmers and cold-storage operators say that this year the total cost of a sack of potatoes, from growing the crop to storing it, came to Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,200. Stored potatoes are now selling for Tk 920 to Tk 1,000 a sack, leaving a loss of Tk 200 to Tk 300 per sack.

Mizanur Rahman, a potato grower from Kuatpur village in Panchbibi upazila, said that this year farmers spent Tk 35,000 to Tk 40,000 a bigha on seed, fertiliser, pesticide, labour and irrigation. At harvest, the potatoes from a bigha sold for Tk 25,000 to Tk 30,000, so farmers lost Tk 10,000 to Tk 15,000 a bigha even at the height of the season.

Seasonal potato traders, among them Md Zakaria and Ayub Ali, said they bought potatoes from farmers at the peak of the harvest and stored them, expecting higher market prices.

The traders said that this year each sack cost them Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,200 from the farmer's field to the cold store. Potatoes are now selling for Tk 900 to Tk 950 on the market, leaving them with heavy losses, on top of the pressure of rising cold-storage rent.

Md Ziaur Rahman, manager of Kusumba Afia Cold Storage in Panchbibi upazila, said they had not raised the rent for storing potatoes. He said that although the cost of oil, gas, electricity and labour had risen several times over, they were still charging the old rate.

Md Mehedi Hasan, an official of the Department of Agricultural Marketing in Joypurhat, said the storage charge would be set in coordination with cold-storage operators to cut farmers' costs, and strict action would be taken against anyone who disregarded the directive.

K M Sadikul Islam, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Joypurhat, said potatoes were grown on more than about 43,000 hectares across the district's five upazilas this year. To avoid losses, he said, potatoes need to be exported through government channels and put to a wider range of uses.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.