Amar Chand Gupta Apu, Dinajpur (South) Correspondent :
Potato growers are facing heavy loss in Dinajpur this season as the price of their crop is quite low in the markets.
“We did not see such a low price of potato in the markets in the last five years,” said
Mohidul Islam Mazu, a potato grower at Uttor Raghunapur village in Phulbari upazila of Dinajpur.
Many farmers in the district are preparing their land for the upcoming potato season, but most of them are yet to collect their previous season’s potatoes from cold storages due to the low rate, he added.
Officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension said, the districts produced around seven lakh tonnes of potatoes in the last season, of which 70 percent was kept in 17 cold storages for better price.
During visit to the local retail markets in the districts, potato was being sold at Tk 10 to Tk 12 per kg while it was around Tk 22 to Tk 24 per kg in October last year, traders said.
Farmer Jotish Chandra Roy of Gopalpur village in upazila, said he spent Tk 1,200 for each bag (80 kg) of potatoes, but is selling them for Tk 700 to Tk 750 per bag. He said he stored 2,400 bags of potatoes at a local cold storage in the upazila.
Ajit Swarnoker said he would suffer a loss of around Tk 12 lakh due to the price fall.
Traders in the districts said the potato price dropped due to huge supply of the crop this year. Besides, number of buyers from other districts is less than previous years.
Phulbari Cold Storage Manager Mizanur Rahman said most growers in Phulbari who stored potatoes in cold storages with the hope of good profit are not collecting their crop to avoid transportation costs and cold storage charges.
They prefer selling their potatoes at the cold storage gate instead of the market, he added.
11 hurt in clash over paddy harvesting: At least 11 people were injured in a clash over harvesting paddy on disputed land in Birampur upazila in Dinajpur district 24th October Thusday.
The injured — Rina Orao, 60, Abdus Sattar, 47, Asim Orao, 28, Rashidul Mondal, 32, Shefali, 30, Abul Khayer, 40, Pronab Kumar, 32, Sohag, 26, Rezaul Karim, 35, Naresh Tigga, 35, and Sourav 15 — are under treatment at Birampur Upazila Health Complex.
Locals said Rina cultivated paddy on 50 decimals of disputed land at Chowgharia village. She and her hired labourers went to harvest the paddy, but Abdul Sattar’s men stopped them.
The two groups then clashed with each other, leaving 11 people of both sides injured.
