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Download PDF Farmers in Munshiganj, a key potato cultivating district, fear late plantation of potato and high production cost could hamper potato yield this season.
Potato farmers in the area are experiencing difficulties which could push the production cost of potato to over Tk 15.50 a kg against last year’s Tk 13 a kg, said government officials and experts.
“Farmers had to postpone their plantation until end of December as rainfall, due to cyclone Sidr, damaged prepared lands,” said Jatindra Chandra Modak, deputy director of Agriculture Extension Department of Munshiganj.
“Along with high production cost there is also a probability of low production which could put potato prices between Tk 17 and Tk 20 at the grocery shops,” he said. Potato represents more than 55 percent of the total vegetable production of the country.
Potato farmers fear incurring loss if the market price is below their production cost during harvest. They claimed since many farmers cannot afford to store their produce in cold storages, middlemen every year take the advantage forcing farmers to sell at lower prices.
Referring to the present food price situation, experts say potato is sometimes considered as an alternative to rice for people of the low income group. High potato price would put extra burden on the consumers.
“If potato price rises in line with the price of rice, it will create more pressure on consumer price index (CPI),” said Prof Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
Farmers of Kadishal, Taltoal, Kushumpur, Rashunia of Shirajdikhan upazila and Makahati and Mohakhali of Munshiganj told this correspondent that high fertiliser and seed prices, high labour cost, and bad weather is taking a toll on their potato production. They said this could result in high potato prices.
Munshiganj alone produces almost 34 percent of the potato produced in the country. Last year, 10 lakh tonnes of potato was produced in Munshiganj district, according to Agriculture Extension Department of Munshiganj. The government this year estimated that potato would be cultivated on 35,000 hectares of land.
Cyclone Sidr badly damaged potatoes on 1,624 hectares of land, which were the early crops.
Nabi Hossain of Rashunia at Shirajdikhan upazila, while irrigating his land on Thursday, expressed his concerns about the potato production in the area. He said he lost his crops on four acres to Sidr soon after plantation.
“Sidr damaged my crops worth Tk 1.5 lakh in November,” he said, adding, “Then I tried to recover the loss by re-planting.”
He said he might not be able to recover from the loss as the production cost has risen significantly.
He said Urea, TSP, and Potash fertiliser prices jumped to Tk 710, Tk 1,300 and Tk 1,300 per 50kg bags in the local market, which were Tk 300, Tk 700 and Tk 700 last year.
Asked about his thoughts on the reason for the fertiliser price hike, he said, “The government’s distribution system was not good and the system gave opportunity to the dealers for making an artificial crisis.”
He said per acre he had to spend Tk 24,100 for fertiliser, Tk 37,800 for seeds, Tk 75,000 as land rent, Tk 4,500 for irrigation, Tk 4,500 for insecticides and Tk 4,500 for labour.
Hossain calculated that he would be spending around Tk 1.50 lakh to produce 10,000 kg of potato, with a production cost of Tk 15.04 per kg, which was Tk 13.45 last year.
“Even if farmers make a small profit, their selling price would be around Tk 17 a kg,” he added.
Asked why seed prices shot up, Md Delwar a grower of Kadisha said, “We do not know… there was a crisis of seeds and we had to pay more.”
He blamed the middlemen for the high price of seeds. Since farmers usually use local seeds stored in cold storages, the middlemen manipulate the price. He said an 80-kg bag of seeds sold between Tk 950 and Tk 1,050 last year but this year it was between Tk 1,800 and Tk 2,200.
He said some farmers had to collect seeds from the houses of dealers as they moved their outlets to avoid “trouble” from the joint forces.
Abdul Jalil Sheikh, a farmer of Taltala union, said, “Once potato was considered as alternative to rice but this season it may not be the case. It could become a ‘luxury’ food item for the rich.”
He said potato could have a price tag between Tk 22 and Tk 24 a kg once the preservation cost is added to the selling price.
FARMERS FEAR BAD WEATHER
The yield of potato depends largely on the weather. Night temperature of under 17º Celsius is needed for a good harvest.
But the weather forecast is not in favour of the farmers of the district. The Met office in Dhaka said it is unlikely to have a continuous temperature below 17º Celsius at night till the end of March.
Temperature may increase after mid February, said Kamrul Hasan, officer on duty at the office.
Md Azizul Haque, senior scientific officer of Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute of Tuber Crops Research Sub-centre Munshiganj, said potato production in Munshiganj could be harmed by the weather.
“If temperature is higher than the required 17º Celsius, production and size of the potato would reduce significantly,” he said.
March 27th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
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May 29th, 2008 at 4:59 am
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