Editorial
Where plenty is a curse!
Farmers deliver but only to go waste
Whereas bumper cash crops should put a smile on the face of producers and give a wafting sense of comfort to consumers, they are actually leaving the former accursed and the latter bemoaning predictable loss of relief in prices. The case in point is the abundant availability of potatoes and tomatoes vis-à-vis our stark incapacity to store or conserve them. In no time, on being hauled from the field, can their freshness evaporate, they wilt and rot before the very eyes of the producers, unless of course these have been promptly stacked and tucked away into the safe temperature of cold stores.
These are highly perishable commodities with predictable instant market demand while the bulk of them require to be conserved through cold storage and processing facilities for off-season off-takes, marketing and diversified use. Thus, not only is the waste staved off but the farmers' chances of getting remunerative prices are also brightened. As for potatoes, it is an unqualified disaster for the producers because of the fact that as against bumper of 100 lakh metric tonnes, the capacity of all cold stores put together is 24 lakh tonnes. Even allowing for retention of a quantity as seeds and application of traditional preservation techniques, the surplus is bound to present a stupendous challenge. We give export incentives for RMG and other sectors. Why don't we spare a thought for incentivising potato export. Simultaneously it is time for industrial use of potato by setting up potato flakes plants.
Think too of the sight of tomatoes plentifully harvested in Sylhet and spilling over to the streets strewn all over in front of DC's office by demonstrating farmers irked by their tomato produce selling at Taka one per kg.
On the one hand, we are egging the farmers on to produce more, giving them all kinds of input support, and they are also devoting increased acreage to food and cash crops. Yet, on the other, we don't have silos enough to keep the produce or the processing units to preserve them in other forms, or indeed targeted markets for export of surpluses.
In the process, the farmers are not even getting the cost price with the result that they are likely to feel discouraged from producing more. This calls for immediate policy and operational linkages between agricultural extension activities on the one side and preservation and marketing facilities on the other.
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