Farmers and traders in Kurigram have staged a blockade, dumping potatoes on the road, in protest at a rise in cold storage rents.

They held the protest on the Kanthalbari bazar road in Sadar upazila at around 11am on Tuesday, 8 July.

Traffic on the Kurigram-Rangpur road was halted for about one and a half hours, causing hardship for passengers. The protesters lifted the blockade after assurances from the upazila administration and the army.

The protesters said cold storage owners had raised rents unreasonably this season even though potato prices in the market are low.

They said that because of higher prices for potato seed, fertiliser and pesticide, it cost Tk 22 to produce a kilo of potatoes. Cold storage rent has now been set at Tk 6.75 a kilo, bringing the total cost this year, including production and storage, to Tk 29 a kilo. Potatoes are currently selling at Tk 15 a kilo, a loss of Tk 14 on every kilo. The farmers demanded that cold storage rent be fixed at Tk 5 a kilo.

Potato farmers Afzal Mia and Mozaffar Ali said a sack that cost Tk 350 to keep in cold storage last year now costs more than Tk 450. "Potato prices are low as it is. If we pay such high cold storage rent, how will we farmers survive?" they said.

Kurigram Sadar upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Sayeda Parvin said assurances had been given to resolve the issue, after which the farmers withdrew their programme. Both sides have been called in, and the matter will be settled through discussion, she said.

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