Price-drop discourages potato farmers in Patuakhali
Women workers nurture a potato field at Char Kaliaya in Baufal upazila of Patuakhali district recently. Photo: STAR
Potato growers in the district, discouraged by low prices last season, are showing less interest in cultivating potato on their lands this year. Only 85 hectares of land have been brought under potato cultivation this year as against 180 hectares last year, said sources of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE). The district sees potato cultivation for the last 20 years. Especially Baufal, Galachipa and Dashmina upazilas are famous for potato as the soil is suitable. Late varieties of potatoes are usually grown during December to February between amon and boro crops. But cultivation of this crop faces setback this year, as farmers failed to get back even their production cost last season. Sudarshan Howlader, a potato farmer of Char Kalaiya under Baufal upazila, said, “I incurred a loss of Tk 7 lakh despite a bumper production on my 20 hectares of land last year. And so, this year I cultivated potato only on five hectares of land.” As there is no storage facility in the area, huge quantities of potatoes got rotten last time, he added. Mahbub Akon, another potato farmer of the same area, said, “I cultivated potato on one hectare of land this year as I counted a loss of Tk 80,000 on three hectares last year.” “Like me, most of the farmers refrained from large scale potato cultivation for fear of loss although prices of fertiliser, insecticides have remained almost the same as last year's,” he added. “Farmers are not interested to cultivate potato due to storage problem although there is huge prospect of its cultivation in the area,” said DAE Deputy Director Nihil Ranjon Mondol.
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