In the hope of getting better prices, potatoes are cultivated in advance on a large area of land this year. The yield has also been good. But the farmers of Thakurgaon district have suffered losses due to not getting good prices.
Last year, potatoes were sold in the field at Tk 25-26 per kg. But this time potatoes are being sold at 10-12 Tks per kg. As a result, farmers are not able to raise production costs.
Rabin Roy, a farmer from Madhupur village in Baliadangi upazila of the district, said that the amount of potato produced last time has been increased again. The rain has caused a little bit of damage but it is like adjusting. Last time I got the price of potato but this time the price of potato is not so much. It could take on even more awful shape in the days ahead.
Mithun Babu, a farmer from Bhopla village in Begunbari union of Sadar upazila, said that the land of potato was flooded by sudden rains while planting potatoes this year. So it takes some time to dry the soil. But farmers in the area are getting 18-19 thousand Tk for potatoes. As such, the loss is 3/4 thousand Tk per bigha.
Farmer Habibur Rahman said, "I am getting lower price of potato than the cost of fertilizer, labor wage and irrigation. This time we have to work hard to meet the difference between the production cost and price of potatoes.”
Vegetable buyer Jahangir Hasan Papon said that at present the price of potato is 15 to 18 Tk. The uncontrolled price of winter vegetables was a few days ago. At that time the demand for potatoes was high. As a result, the price of potato was also high. Now the prices of winter vegetables have come within the reach of people so the demand for potatoes has also come down a bit.
Abdur Rafique, a potato trader at Shahi Cold Storage in Thakurgaon district, said the district produced more potatoes last year. Due to which farmers have got cold storage potatoes in the market till December. As a result, the demand for new potatoes has been affected. New potatoes cannot be stored for long. Due to which the demand for potatoes is low and the price is low.
Deputy Director of Thakurgaon District Agriculture Extension Department, agronomist Abu Hossain said that last year, 6,41,296 metric tonnes of potatoes were produced in 26,515 hectares of land in the district. This time in 5 upazilas of Thakurgaon district 28 thousand 530 hectares of land has been cultivated in advance. Of this, 1,630 hectares of land has been harvested so far.
The production has been estimated at 25,558 metric tons. Calculation shows that the average potato production per bigha is 45-46 mounds. Which is equal to last time. But at present, the market price of potato is getting a lot of losses.
It may be mentioned that in Thakurgaon district, several more varieties of potato including Ganula, Diamond, Romana, Stick are cultivated in advance.
