Farmers in Rajshahi in a predicament over potatoes

Daily Bijoy News, Rajshahi District Correspondent:

Potato farmers in Tanore, Rajshahi, have once again faced losses this season. New potatoes are being sold at Tk 9 to Tk 9.5 per kilogram. In addition to this, farmers are being forced to give an extra 5 kilograms per sack as 'dholon' (an additional unpaid amount). As a result, despite a good yield, they are incurring heavy losses due to not getting a fair price.

Potato farmer Firoz Kabir said he got a relatively good yield cultivating potatoes on one bigha of land. The production was 40 to 45 sacks (60 kg per sack) of potatoes per bigha. Each sack is selling for Tk 600 to Tk 700. Although this yields Tk 24,000 to Tk 31,000 per bigha, the cost was Tk 60,000 to Tk 65,000. Consequently, the loss is Tk 30,000 to Tk 35,000 per bigha.

A farmer named Kurban said that cultivating potatoes on two and a half bighas of land cost about Tk 50,000 per bigha, but the sales proceeds were only Tk 26,000 to Tk 28,000. In his words, "If there's a loss of Tk 32,000 per bigha, there's no way but to be ruined."

Farmers allege that even though sacks weighing 70 kg are loaded, they are paid only for 65 kg. That means they have to give an extra 5 kg of potatoes per sack, which is considered profit for the traders. This results in an additional 250 kg of potatoes per bigha going to the traders, with a market value of approximately Tk 2,375.

Trader Ainul said these potatoes will be taken to Khulna for sale. There, they might get Tk 1 to Tk 2 more per kilogram. Regarding the 'dholon', he said that raw potatoes are bought from the field. The extra weight is necessary because weight decreases during transportation and storage.

Trader Masud said that like last year, farmers have faced huge losses in potato farming this year as well. Many farmers took loans and cultivated potatoes again, albeit on less land, but they are incurring losses this time too.

In this situation, farmers say that potato harvesting hasn't started in full swing yet. Potatoes from the Rahimadanga Bill fields started being harvested about 8-10 days ago, and the market price was Tk 9.5 per kg then, which still remains. Although land lease and seed prices have decreased slightly, reducing costs somewhat, high fertilizer and pesticide prices have increased production costs.

Tanore Upazila Agriculture Officer Saifullah Ahmed said that potatoes have been cultivated on 12,190 hectares of land in the upazila this year. Potatoes from 150 hectares have already been harvested. The average yield is 25 metric tons per hectare. Regarding the price, he said the agriculture department works on cultivation and pest control; determining the market price is the responsibility of the agricultural marketing department.

Daily Bijoy News/ Md. Golam Kibria