Potato remains a sorrow for the growers
Huge quantity of potato lies in a field at Harati village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila as growers have nowhere to shift it. The situation appears as space in the local cold storages is too inadequate to accommodate the large quantities of potato produced in the area this season while the low price of the vegetable is not sufficient even to recoup the production cost.Photo: STAR
Potato growers blocked Lalmonirhat-Rangpur road at Mohendro Nagor in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila for five hours yesterday demanding electricity connection to a newly set up cold storage to facilitate storing of their produce. Meanwhile, a large number of small and marginal potato growers in Jessore and Narail districts are now worried about recouping their capital as they have to sell the produce for very low prices due to lack of storage facilities. Four cold storages in Lalmonirhat district have already stopped receiving potato due to lack of space while newly set up Total Cold Storage at Mohendro Nagor is unable to use most of its capacity as it is yet to get electricity connection, reports our Lalmonirhat correspondent. "The 8000-tonne capacity Total Cold Storage has been recently constructed at Mohendro Nagor and the authorities earlier campaigned among the growers for storing potato there," Mohsin Ali, 50, a potato grower of Mohendro Nagor village in Lalmonirhat Sadar, said. “I have produced 90 sacks of potato this year and stored 20 sacks of potato in this cold storage a week ago. But they have stopped taking any more of it, saying that they have no electricity connection. My eight sacks of potato have already rotten. If I cannot store the remaining potato within a few days, I will face a huge loss.” The manager of Total Cold Storage, Abdul Mojid said, "The cold storage authority completed all process for getting power connection two months ago but we are yet to get it due to unknown reasons. As many growers have already stored their potato here we are using partial capacity of the cold storage with diesel engine but it is very expensive." Masudur Rahman, assistant engineer of Lalmonirhat Power Development Board, said, "Two months ago, we sent letter to the concerned ministry requesting permission to connect power at Total Cold storage at Mohendro Nagor in Lalmonirhat Sadar but we are yet to get any response. We will connect electricity to the cold storage after getting official permission from the ministry." Lalmonirhat Sadar UNO Shamim Alam said, "I have already sent a message to the higher authorities about potato growers' road blockade and demonstration demanding electricity connection to Total Cold Storage. I hope the cold storage will get power connection within a couple of days." Our Narail correspondent adds from Jessore: Potato growers in Jessore and Narail districts are now unhappy as they have to sell their potato at prices much lower than last year's due to lack of storage facility. Several growers said potato prices are lower by Tk 180 to 200 per maund (37.50 kg) this year. "As growers cannot preserve potato due to space crisis at cold storages, a section of dishonest middlemen are buying our produce at cheaper rates to make windfall profit," said Moni Babu of Chanpur village under Narail Sadar upazila. Farmers in Jessore and Narail are apprehending losses from potato cultivation as the vegetable is now selling between Tk 6 and 7 per kg in local markets. Farmers cultivated potato on vast areas of land in the area this season as they earned good profit from it last year. Favourable weather conditions and adequate supply of necessary fertilisers and pesticides are the reasons behind the bumper production of potato, said Dr Sunil Kumar Roy, regional project manager of Second Crop Diversification Project in Jessore. In Jessore, 3,037 hectares of land has been brought under potato cultivation with production target of 53,148 tonnes this year while in Narail, the area is 81 hectares with production target of 1,418 tonnes, said sources at DAE Jessore regional office.
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