Joypurhat is one of the country's leading potato-producing districts. As a farming region it grows a great deal of potatoes, and its land and climate are especially suited to the crop. But with market prices below the cost of production, growers are in trouble, and potatoes have now joined the list of alternative animal feeds.

There is a snag there too. A livestock officer says feeding too many potatoes can cause bloat and other illnesses in cattle.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), the target for potato cultivation this season was 40,000 hectares, but potatoes were grown on 43,470 hectares: 10,905 hectares in Kalai upazila, 9,220 in Khetlal, 8,945 in Panchbibi, 7,800 in Sadar and 6,600 in Akkelpur. The production target is 956,000 tonnes.

The district has 19 cold stores, large and small, all of which store potatoes. But while production has passed 900,000 tonnes, together they can hold only 192,000 tonnes — 130,000 tonnes of table potatoes and 62,000 tonnes of seed potatoes. The district needs about 60,000 tonnes of seed potatoes and about 40,000 tonnes of table potatoes. Growers cannot store the surplus.

Rasel Hossain of Pathanpara village in Khetlal upazila said he grew potatoes on 6 bighas. Because he could not book in time, he could not keep many in cold storage. Potatoes now sell for Tk 8 to Tk 9 a kg, though they cost him over Tk 15 a kg to produce. So he is boiling potatoes and feeding them to his cattle, giving them more potatoes and less of other feed.

Rozina Akter of Barail village in Kalai upazila now feeds boiled potatoes to her five cows every day, and when she is short of time, she gives them raw potatoes.

Her husband Mofidul Islam said: "This time I grew the Stick variety of potato on 4 bighas (33 decimals to a bigha). It cost Tk 75,000. Because potato prices are low in the market, we are using them as alternative cattle feed."

Not only in Kalai and Khetlal: potatoes are now being used as cattle feed in all five upazilas of the district. Vets, however, advise against it.

Dr Ziaur Rahman, livestock officer of Joypurhat Sadar upazila, told Jagonews24: "Potato is a carbohydrate food. Feeding a lot of it can cause bloat in cattle, and feeding too many raw potatoes can cause other illnesses too. Pesticides are used on potatoes, so feeding raw potatoes to cattle can cause poisoning."

Agriculturist Rahela Parvin, deputy director of the DAE in Joypurhat, told Jagonews24: "Farmers got a good price for potatoes last year, so more land was planted this time. With no major natural disaster, there has been a bumper potato crop."

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