Md. Masud Khan, Munshiganj (South)

Munshiganj, one of the top potato-producing districts in the country, is now seeing potatoes turn into a burden for farmers. With no space left in cold storage facilities, farmers are being forced to sell their potatoes at low prices. 

The Agriculture Department is advising farmers to preserve potatoes at home using traditional methods. Compared to last year, the country has produced 4 million metric tons more potatoes this year. Last year, the country produced 8 million metric tons, whereas this year the figure has reached nearly 12 million metric tons. However, the market price is much lower than the cost of production per kilogram, raising fears of major losses for farmers.

Despite a bumper harvest this year in Munshiganj, farmers are not smiling. They cannot store potatoes in cold storage facilities and are not getting fair prices. The golden crop grown with hard labor is now turning into a curse. Potatoes are selling at Tk 12 to 14 per kg at the field level, whereas the production cost is at least Tk 18 per kg. This has put farmers at risk of losing their investment. Meanwhile, middlemen who had secured cold storage quotas in advance are taking advantage of the situation, leaving marginal farmers in a tight spot. Farmers are now demanding that the government open cold storage facilities and urgently arrange for potato exports.

A consumer at Munshiganj town market said, “Potato prices have crashed. If we don’t export potatoes to foreign markets, it will not be possible to sell all of the harvested produce. To save the farmers, there is no alternative to exporting potatoes.”

Abbas, a farmer who brought his potatoes to be stored at Allied Cold Storage in Muktarpur by trolley, said, “Even those who bought storage quotas are now being denied space as the cold storages are full. And those of us who didn’t get a quota are in even deeper trouble. There's no space left in any cold storage. For farmers like us, there’s no way out but death.”

This year, the country has produced about 12 million metric tons of potatoes, compared to 8 million last year. The Agriculture Department is advising farmers to preserve potatoes at home rather than selling them at cheap rates.

District Agriculture Marketing Officer Samir Hossain Siam said, “In a non-refrigerated room, a farmer can store 25 to 30 tons of potatoes. By doing so, they can make a small profit above production cost, even if sold in the market later. Potatoes stored this way don’t spoil easily and weight loss is also minimal.”

Deputy Director of the District Department of Agricultural Extension Biplob Kumar Mohonto said, “Munshiganj is a top potato-producing district. The 58 operational cold storages here can hold 507,000 metric tons of potatoes. Already, 495,000 metric tons have been stored, some of which came from other districts. So we can say that a significant amount of potatoes remain unpreserved. 

We are advising farmers to store potatoes locally using traditional methods like racks or sacks. This may give them a chance to sell their potatoes later at a better price.”

Munshiganj’s 58 operational cold storages have a combined capacity of 540,760 metric tons. This year, potatoes were cultivated on 34,758 hectares of land in the district, yielding 1,000,738 metric tons of potatoes. But due to the lack of cold storage space, farmers are now in distress.