Potato exports to quadruple this year: ministry

Bangladesh’s potato exports will quadruple this year with new markets opening up, says the agriculture ministry.

Ships carrying 30,000 tonnes of potato will leave the Chittagong port for Russia and Taiwan within a day or two, Additional Secretary Anwar Faruque told bdnews24.com.

Bangladesh has been shipping potato to 13 countries, mainly in the Middle East and South East Asia, but Russia and Taiwan are the newest additions to its market.

“We had sat with businesses to boost potato exports. They have raised some demands. We told them that those would be considered,” said the top agriculture official.

According to him, if everything goes right Bangladesh will ship around 200,000 tonnes of potatoes this year, up from 50,000 tonnes in the previous one.

“The political turmoil in November-December is the reason behind the current instability in the potato market.

“The problem stemmed from crops remaining unsold due to strikes and transport blockades,” said Faruque, claiming that the market will stabilise by another two weeks.

The annual demand of the local market is 4.5 million tonnes and the capacity of 400 cold storages across the country is five million, he added.

Potato farmers are in the doldrums as the price fell drastically this year. They have to sell their produce at Tk 1 per kg because of a bumper harvest.

According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), the government projected a harvest of 8.65 million tonnes of potatoes on 440,000 hectares this season.

However, potato was sown in 448,000 hectares, leading to the harvest surpassing the target, said DAE Deputy Director Rafiqul Islam.

Farmers grew more than 8.6 million tonnes of potatoes during the past season.

Meanwhile, exporters are demanding the cash incentive be increased to 40 percent from the existing 20 percent, a move they claim would crank up exports.

“Potato is a perishable vegetable. It would rot or sprouts will grow on it if it doesn’t reach the market in time while being shipped under regular temperature,” said Bangladesh Cold Storage Association’s Chairman Jasim Uddin.

Cold storage owners basically export potatoes from Bangladesh.

According to the business leader, they would be able to ship potato in air-conditioned containers if the cash-incentive is raised.

A tonne of potato is traded between US$ 360 -400 this year, said Jasim Uddin.

Bangladesh exported vegetables worth US $110 million in the last fiscal. Of which potato accounted for US$ 11 million, according to figures by the Export Promotion Bureau,

According to the Directorate General of Food (DGoF), annual demand for potato in the country is 4.5 million tonnes, while the capacity of the country’s 400 cold storages is only 5 million tonnes.