Despite various initiatives, the government allowed the import of potatoes as the market price became uncontrollable during the peak season. After that, the price in the market decreased a little, but in the field, it decreased a lot. But this time the farmers of Dinajpur are afraid of loss. They say that this year the yield of potatoes has already decreased due to severe winter and thick fog. Moreover, the cost of protecting the potatoes from the onset of winter has also increased. So now they are worried about the rising cost of production while the profit is far away from potato cultivation. However, the local agriculture department is unwilling to accept such a demand. They say that farmers will benefit now that the weather is good and prices are good in the market.
Recently in an extended meeting of Awami League, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina advised everyone to take initiative to reduce the price of goods. At the time, he said to stop extortion and illegal hoarding especially in the field of transportation or wholesale market, or hoarding. Along with that, he directed to pay attention to the farmers to get fair price. He urged the leaders and activists of Trinamool to pay attention to this matter.
Demanding the implementation of the Prime Minister’s instructions, the farmers of the field are saying that compared to other years, the farmers were leaning towards potato cultivation in Hili of Dinajpur in the hope of profit due to good demand and good price in the market. But just as the potatoes are about to come out of the fields, imports have brought prices down. So this time they are facing loss by cultivating potatoes.
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Palash Basak, a farmer of Chandipur village in Hilli, said that the price of potatoes in the market had risen to Tk 60 to Tk 70 per kg. Based on that calculation, we expected to grow potatoes and get a good price. That’s why I planted potatoes this time compared to the previous year. As the weather was good in the beginning, the potato plants also did well. But sometimes there was such cold and fog that many trees were destroyed due to tree rot. The potato plant has been saved by spraying the drug several times. But even then the yield of potato was disrupted. Last time, one bigha of land yielded 100 maunds of potatoes, but this time, due to adverse weather conditions, it is not more than 50 to 60 maunds.
He said, ‘Still, we were expecting profit because of the good price of potatoes in the market. But just when potatoes are about to grow from our land, the government has allowed the import of potatoes. As a result, the potato market has decreased from 2 thousand taka to 600 taka. This time, 35,000 rupees were spent to grow potatoes on one bigha of land. But the current price of potatoes is far from making a profit, I don’t know if the cost of production will rise. As a result, we have to count the losses by planting potatoes this time.’
Ismailpur farmer Abdur Razzak said, ‘This time I planted potatoes in the hope of profit. But that hope has become like sand in our molasses. Due to the import of potatoes from India, the price of potatoes has come down, currently at 600 rupees. Where was the price of 2 thousand taka for potatoes, but now we are not able to survive by selling potatoes at this price. The rate at which costs have increased, particularly in fertilisers, seeds, tillage; In short, everything costs more but the price of potatoes is less. Due to which potato farming is not profitable now.’
Sirajul Islam, another farmer of the same area, said that this time, keeping in mind the good price and demand of potatoes, I planted potatoes in the hope of making a profit. Potato plants rotted several times due to cold and fog. I saved the potato plant from that rot by sprinkling medicine at extra cost several times. But now there is no price of potatoes, our expenses are not rising at this price.’
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Yasin Ali, a worker engaged in picking potatoes, said, ‘Palash bhai (farmer) planted potatoes in this field. We workers are now working to pick those potatoes from the field. But this time due to adverse weather conditions, due to extra cold and fog, the yield of potatoes is much less than last time. As there is no price of potatoes on top of that, the moneylenders are struggling with the wages they will give us.’
Hakimpur Upazila Agriculture Officer Arjena Begum said that in the current season, potato cultivation has been done on 1 thousand 11 hectares of land in Hakimpur Upazila. Although initially the weather was good, there were some problems due to severe winter. Potato harvesting has already started but not completely finished yet. Currently, as the weather is good, we expect the farmers to get a good yield of potatoes. Also, we hope that the farmers will benefit as the market price of potatoes is good. He also said that potato cultivation will increase in the future as it is profitable.
This agriculture official said that this year the average yield of potato has been determined as 23 metric tons per hectare. According to that calculation, the target of 26 thousand 360 metric tons of potato production in the current season has been set in the upazila. So far 11 thousand 973 tons of potatoes have been harvested from 527 hectares of land.
Incidentally, the government allowed the import of potatoes from India on February 1 to control the potato market. 50 importers from Hili land port get permission to import 35 thousand tons of potatoes. Accordingly, the LC was opened and the import of potatoes from India started from February 3 through various land ports of the country including Heli. Earlier, the government allowed the import of potatoes from India on October 30 last year when the price went up on the pretext of low supply. In view of the businessmen’s request, the government extended the deadline for import till December 15. Subsequently, the import of potatoes through the port was stopped from December 15 as the deadline expired.
#Potato #prices #field #farmers #fearing #losses
