A R Farrukh Ahamed :
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (Bari) in association with Peru-based International Potato Centre (CIP) has successfully developed a new potato variety (Bari potato variety 46), revealed Bari media section on Thursday last. Earlier, Bari released beta carotene-rich sweet potatoes, Bari SP-12 and Bari SP-13, capable to fight vitamin A-deficiency. Obviously, it’s a creditable innovation by our scientists. We congratulate them.
The newly developed potato variety is resistant to Late Blight disease, viruses and drought that wreak havoc on potato production, if affected. It is also a high yielding one. With commissioning of this seed, the total potato production is likely to increase in the coming years. The total potato production was around 87 lakh tones in the last season while the annual consumption of potato is 60-65 lakh tonnes. Of the total produce, 10 lakh tonnes are used as seed. Previous experiences show, an additional production often causes anarchy in the potato market almost every year. As the government and its policy makers failed to expand the potato market, so its production extravaganza is nothing, but causes severe financial losses to the marginal farmers. The prices of potato at the farmers’ end stands at Tk 1.76-Tk 5 a kilogram this harvesting season, which is far below the production cost of around Tk 6. The hopeless, distressed and ill-fated farmers who were unable to recoup the bare cost of production and facing near bankruptcy, resorted to protests. Hence, considering it an annual concern, the government, particularly the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) should adopt proper policy for getting the full advantage from the new innovation of the potato.
Since the farmers are in the fear of loosing severely for potato cultivation next year, this may affect the future production of the potato. So to ensure fair price to the farmers, the government can announce a policy of procuring potato from the farmers directly at fair prices to suppress the middlemen. To stable the market, government can also buy potatoes as foodstuff to run its social safety schemes in line of procuring rice. It can be extremely helpful to build up food security in the country.
A coordination committee can be formed with representative from the Ministry of Food, Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Agriculture to monitor the market and take necessary action while needed. Department of Agricultural Marketing can play an active role in this regard. The concerned authority should make an annual demand vis-a-vis the possible production target for the growers. In that case, the farmers can take decision while emphasizing single crop to produce. Another option is to facilitate establishment of agro-processed industries where potato can be used as major raw materials. Products like chips and others have substantial domestic demand as well as high export potentials. This export window should be fully explored and used.
Besides, with the existing export capacity in various countries, the government should explore new markets, and ease the export barriers for potatoes. Europe, Africa, the Middle East and also the South Asian region can be some new export destinations for Bangladeshi potatoes. The private sector exporters should make better use of the opportunities open to them in exporting potatoes.
