Burdened by bumper potato
Growers in 8 northern districts to count loss for poor storage facilities
Farmers put into sacks huge potato at a field of Chira Bhiza Golna in Jaldhaka upazila under Nilphamari district that saw bumper production of the winter vegetable this season. Photo: STAR
Bumper potato yield in eight northern districts this season hardly makes the farmers happy as 57 cold storages in the country's largest potato producing region can accommodate only 13.5 per cent of the total production. Average yield of harvested potato in a hectare this year is 19.5 tonnes and accordingly total production in the region is expected to be about 37 lakh tonne, said officials of the regional office of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Rangpur. Seventy percent of the winter vegetable in the region has already been harvested. “We are expecting bumper production as the weather is favourable, fertiliser and pesticide supply is stable and farmers are getting them at fair price,” said Mamunur Rashid, acting deputy director of DAE in Nilphamari. Farmers cultivated potato on 1.87 lakh hectares of land in Rangpur, Dinajpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh and Nilphamari districts, which is 12.6 thousand hectares higher than the target set by DAE this year, said DAE sources. “We are expecting bumper production as the weather is favourable, fertiliser and pesticide supply is stable and farmers are getting them at fair price,” said Mamunur Rashid, acting deputy director of DAE in Nilphamari. "Farmers are opting for high yielding potato varieties and adopting scientific methods of cultivation, resulting in bumper yield. Farmers cultivated high yielding varieties like Granula, Patronize, Diamond, Hira, Dhira and others in vast tracts of land in this region," Mesbahul Islam, horticulture specialist of regional DAE office in Rangpur, said. There are 28 cold storages in Rangpur, seven each in Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Nilphamari, four in Lalmonirhat, and two each in Gaibandha Kurigram districts, said sources of Cold Storage Association and regional DAE office. There is no cold storage in Panchagarh district. The total storing capacity of the 57 cold storages is 4.7 lakh tonnes or 13.5% of total production, they said. About 25.72 lakh tonnes of potato will remain outside the cold storages and a large amount of it will remain vulnerable to damage. Sayed Ali, owner of a big cold storage in Jaldhaka, said farmers have already booked all the available room in advance for storing potatoes. "Considering the interest of potato farmers in this monga-prone region, commercial banks should relax their rules and conditions for giving loans on easy terms so that interested entrepreneurs may come forward to set up new cold storages," Md Selim, an American expatriate, also owner of newly set up cold storage 'Ankur Himagar Ltd' in Nilphamari. "Potato farmers are facing storage problem as there are not inadequate cold storages. We are suggesting farmers to follow traditional ways to store potatoes in well-ventilated place, using bamboo floors enclosed with bamboo fences," Md Mohsin Ali, additional director of DAE in Rangpur region, said.
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