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 Buscador de Noticias
Asia 01/09/2021

Bangladesh: Include potato in relief packages

The agriculture ministry has recently urged authorities concerned to include potatoes in relief packages meant for people affected by natural calamities.

The ministry stated it issuing separate letters to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, NGO Affairs Bureau and Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner.

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Potato production in Bangladesh has steadily increased over the years and now there is a surplus stock of the popular vegetable. So potatoes can be distributed as a part of relief activities, said the letter.

Farmers produced 1.06 crore tonnes of potato this calendar year, up 10 per cent from 96 lakh tonnes in 2020, according to data from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

 "It is necessary to ensure the proper and multiple uses of potato. Potatoes can be distributed along with the relief items including rice, wheat, flour and other items among the destitute and affected people to fight any natural calamity," said the ministry.

This will increase the versatile use of potatoes on one hand and help meet demand for potatoes at the consumer level on the other. Besides, it will ensure marketing of the products produced by farmers.

The ministry’s call comes at a time when farmers and traders are worried about whether they will be able to get a fair price for their potatoes due to low demand in the market.

Despite a bumper yield of potato this year, farmers and traders, particularly those in the country’s northern region which accounts for 70 per cent of the production, are fearing losses due to the low prices.

Traders were offering Tk 12 per kilogramme at the cold storage gates in Joypurhat, one of the main potato producing districts in the north. However the cost per kilogramme stands at Tk 17.5, according to a farmer.

Besides, encouraged by high prices of potato for recurrent floods and public and voluntary distribution among financially insolvent people following the Covid-19 outbreak last year, farmers and traders stored a higher quantity of the vegetable this year.

Bangladesh Cold Storage Association (BCSA) estimates that growers and traders stored 55 lakh tonnes of potato this year to sell during the lean season.

Of this amount, roughly 10 lakh tonnes will be used as seeds and the rest for consumption.

BCSA President Mosharraf Hossain recently said 30 per cent of the potatoes in cold storages had been released since June, when farmers begin to sell the tuber crops.

Farmers and traders registered rising prices in July, particularly just before Eid-ul-Azha. Prices began to decline after the government enforced a lockdown since July 23 to contain the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Potato prices were in the range of Tk 20 to Tk 25 per kilogramme at markets in Dhaka city yesterday, a 4.26 per cent decrease compared to that a month ago, showed data from the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

Fuente: https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/agriculture/news/include-potato-relief-packages-2158496


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