Jessore potato growers count Tk 52 cr loss

UNB, Benapole (Jessore) :
Benapole (Jessore) Sharp fall in price of their produce following increased production cost is likely to cause a loss of Tk52 crore to the potato farmers in Jessore this season.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), farmers and market sources, potato was cultivated on lands one and a half times more than the target and production was also good.
But the price of the crop at the local markets after the harvest was found disappointing to the growers, with which it is even not possible for them to recover the production cost.
The growers are facing loss of Tk6.5 per kg of the vegetable.
According to the DAE, a target was set to cultivate potato on 2,750 hectares of land expecting to produce 53,571 tonnes of the item.
But due to favourable climate and good price of the crop last year, farmers cultivated potato on one and a half times higher land than the target and also got good yield.
According to thee sources, total 80,356 tonnes of potato will be produced in the district this season.
Rezaul Islam, a resident of Baromeghla village of Jessore district, cultivated ‘Diamond’ type potato on 10 bighas of land this year.
He spent Tk30,000 to cultivate the same on each bigha.
His production cost is Tk 11 per kg but in the field level per kg potato is being sold at Tk5.
Therefore, he has to count Tk6 loss per kg.
Aminur of Bijoynagar, Billal Hossain of Joykrishnapur and Abdus Sattar of Teghoria village told same story.
Some traders of Borobazar said potato is now coming to the Jessore markets from Rangpur, Bogra, Thakurgaon and Dinajpur districts.
At wholesale level, granola potato (round shape) is being sold at Tk3.25 to Tk 3.50 per kg and Kardilal potato (red) at Tk 6 while in retail market it is being sold at Tk3.5 and Tk 7.5 respectively.
It is learnt, most farmers cultivated potato-taking loan from banks, NGOs and money lenders.
These growers are set to incur heavy burden of loss this year.