Cold Storage Crisis in Barguna, Patuakhali

Frustrated farmers feeding rotting potatoes to cattle

4 April 2010, 18:00 PM

Our Correspondent, Patuakhali

Potato farmer Selim Goldar of Patharghata upazila in Barguna district gives a bleak look as the vegetable sees awfully low prices in local markets due to lack of storage facilities, right, the frustrated grower finds no better way than feeding the rotting potatoes to his cows.Photo: STAR

Huge quantities of potatoes are rotting in different areas of Barguna and Patuakhali districts due to lack of storage facilities while the price has come down to as low as Tk 200-250 per maund in local markets. The two districts saw huge potato production due to favourable weather this year but farmers are now worried about recovery of their production cost, let alone profit. Many of them are feeding potatoes to their cows. Potato was cultivated on 500 acres of land in Patuakhali and 650 acres in Barguna and the two districts produced about 15,000 tonnes and 19,500 tonnes of potato but there is no cold storage, said sources at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). The best producing upazilas are Baufal in Patuakhali and Pathorghata in Barguna, they added. "I cultivated potato on my 11 acres of land this year and spent about Tk 1.25 lakh for the purpose. But I will not be able to recover even my investment as price of potato is very low in the local market. The supply of potato is much higher than demand in this area. Some businessmen from Munshiganj are coming to buy potatoes from here at very cheap rates," said Asit Baran, a farmer of Kalaiya village under Baufal upazila. Surat Ali Khan, 65, a potato farmer of Kakchira village in Pathorghata upazila, said he has been cultivating potato for seven years but he has never seen such low price. "On last Thursday, I went to Barguna with 10 maunds of potato but I did not sell it as the price is very low. Now I am feeding potatoes to my cows as it is rotting," he said. Selim Golder, 50, a potato farmer of the same village, said last year he cultivated potato on one-acre land and earned a profit of over Tk 2,000. This year he cultivated potato on two acres of land by taking loan from a local NGO but he is facing losses due to low price of the produce. Golam Sabur Tulu, lawmaker from Pathorghata, took an initiative to set up a cold storage for preservation of locally produced potatoes two years ago but it is still under construction.