Prices of potato have begun to rebound due to a supply dearth from farmers, after a bulk quantity went to cold storage for domestic consumption during the off-season.
An increased export demand has been another catalyst for the price uptrend, traders said.
The rising trend comes after thousands of farmers suffered losses due to slump in the prices of their produce in the wake of a production glut this year.
High volume of storage still fail to boost potato prices
Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) data shows retail prices of potato edged up to 11 percent to Tk 9-11 a kilogram, which was selling at Tk 8-10 in the capital a month ago. Prices also marked a rise at growers' level.
Farmers, however, said the gains in prices would not help them recover their losses.
“Even after the rise in prices, I am in loss. I spent Tk 8 to produce a kg of potato, whereas the prices now stand between Tk 7-7.25,” said Abul Hossain, a farmer in Munshiganj.
Hossain, who rented one acre of land to grow potato, linked the production cost to high rent of land. “The cost of production is higher in our region than the north because of higher rentals,” he added.
Agriculture officials and cold storage owners said production has exceeded last years' total of 81 lakh tonnes due to favourable weather and low prices of non-urea fertilisers.
Cold storage across the country have preserved 35 lakh tonnes of potato, which was 26 lakh tonnes a year ago, according to Bangladesh Cold Storage Association (BCSA).
Export of potato has already exceeded the last year's mark and shot up to 10,000 tonnes since the beginning of February, according to Plant Protection Wing of Department of Agricultural Extension.
The export volume is expected to rise further as the government has recently promised to double an existing cash incentive to 20 percent for the next five years. An official order regarding the increase in cash incentive is yet to be issued.
Farmer Abul Hossain predicted the prices to go up further once the growers' stock dries out. He also expected that potato preserved in cold storage would hit the market by end of June or early July.
Md Jasim Uddin, chairman of BCSA, said prices might go up to Tk 20-30 per kg within months.
He suggested the farmers to preserve part of their produce at homestead in a traditional method to get that price benefit.
News Source:
The Daily Star