Record Potato harvest turns bitter for farmers as prices crash
Business Desk :
Potato prices across Bangladesh have fallen sharply due to oversupply, with retail prices dropping to Tk 15-20 per kilogram and cold storage gate prices reaching as low as Tk 9-11.Cold storage owners and farmers said the crash has left them struggling, as production costs of around Tk 15-16 per kg are far higher than current market prices.
The government had set the price of potatoes at Tk 22 per kg at cold storage gates and promised to procure 50,000 metric tonnes from farmers to reduce their losses. However, the procurement has not been carried out, leading to further price declines in both retail markets and cold storage gates.
Bangladesh produced a record 1.15 crore tonnes of potatoes in the 2024-25 financial year from 4.92 lakh hectares of land, a 9 percent increase from 1.06 crore tonnes in FY24, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
The Tuber Crops Research Centre reported that annual domestic demand for potatoes is around 90 lakh tonnes, including 10 lakh tonnes for seeds and 80 lakh tonnes for consumption.
Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu, president of the Bangladesh Cold Storage Association (BCSA), told the media that about 9-10 lakh tonnes of potatoes for consumption and 9 lakh tonnes of seed potatoes are currently stored in cold storages nationwide.
Earlier, Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, adviser on Agriculture and Home Affairs, had said the government would buy potatoes this season to offset farmers’ losses caused by the surplus production. The BCSA urged the government to include purchased potatoes in social safety net programs and ration schemes.
Farmers in major production hubs, including Munshiganj, Rangpur, Bogura, Rajshahi, Naogaon, and Joypurhat, reported heavy losses as they struggled to sell potatoes at production cost. Many potatoes have started spoiling, yet farmers have already begun sowing new crops for the upcoming season in hopes of higher prices.
Exports also remained weak. In FY25, Bangladesh exported potatoes and processed potato items worth $40 million, with approximately 62,000 tonnes shipped abroad, according to the Export Promotion Bureau and the Department of Agricultural Extension.