Humayun Kabir Surja, Kurigram

Potato farmers in Kurigram are in trouble by cultivating more potatoes than the demand and target. Due to the fall in the price of potatoes in the market, they are having to sell potatoes at half the cost of production. In this situation, potato farmers are not making a profit because the opportunity to export potatoes to Malaysia and Nepal has been created. Farmers said that they will be able to reduce their losses if they get government support.

According to the District Agricultural Extension Department, the target for potato cultivation in the district for the current season was set on 7,100 hectares of land. Farmers have cultivated potatoes on 8,000 hectares of land so far.

Due to the cultivation of more potatoes than the demand, prices have now started falling in the market. Unable to cover the cost, extreme disappointment is evident on the faces. Currently, wholesalers are buying potatoes at 10 to 12 taka per kg. Due to such a price situation, many have left potatoes in the field. However, even though the farmers saw a ray of hope as the opportunity to export potatoes abroad suddenly arose, the price did not increase, which did not benefit them.

Shafiqul, a potato farmer from Char Sardob village in Holokhana Union of Kurigram Sadar Upazila, said, "I have planted potatoes on 30 acres of land at a cost of about 40,000 taka. I left the potatoes on the land as they were priced at 8 taka and 10 taka. Today, I sold the potatoes to a wholesaler for export at a price of 12 taka per kg. I will get about 25,000 taka. I have lost 15,000 taka by cultivating these potatoes."

Meanwhile, due to the variation in weather, the size of the potatoes is not standard, so the suppliers are not taking potatoes from all the lands. They said that the size of the potatoes for export should be from 80 grams to 400 grams. Undersized or badly shaped potatoes are not being accepted.

As a result, the farmers are facing problems in this regard as well.

Many people are now in extreme fear after spending crores of taka to cultivate potatoes this year. Quader Mia, a big potato farmer from Char Sardob, said, "I have cultivated potatoes on 95 acres of land at a cost of 2 crore taka. I am very worried about the current market price. If the price of potatoes does not increase in the future, we will die in the field." Quader Mia also said that the cost of potato cultivation has increased a lot now.

It costs 40 thousand taka to rent one acre of land. It costs 70 thousand taka to buy 1,000 potato seeds. In addition, fertilizer, irrigation, pesticides and labor costs are about 90 thousand taka. The total cost is 2 lakh taka. 200 sacks of potatoes are available in an acre. If each sack is 60 kg, the total potato available is 12 thousand kg. This shows that the production cost per kg is 16.66 taka. If those potatoes are sold for 10 to 12 taka, the big farmers will suffer huge losses. Sirajul Islam, a potato exporter from Kurigram Sadar Upazila, said that on January 26 of this month, 45 tons of potatoes left Kurigram for Malaysia and Nepal in 3 trucks at Chittagong Port.

Two trucks of potatoes are being collected today. It is hoped that if the demand increases, the losses of potato farmers will be reduced to some extent. He also said that we have started exporting potatoes from January 26 by contacting potato exporters in various ways. This has helped farmers reduce their losses to some extent.

In this regard, Abdullah Al Mamun, Deputy Director of the District Agricultural Extension Department, said that the big news for potato farmers is that the demand for potatoes is increasing abroad. If they can sell potatoes at the right price, they will be able to profit.