Formal sector meets only a fifth of total demand for potato seeds

Bangladesh requires around 770,000 tonnes of seeds to grow potato every year, but public and private agencies can meet only 20 percent of the demand.

Seeds kept by farmers and informally meet 80 percent of the requirement, according to a paper on Bangladesh's seed sector presented at a workshop today.

Bangladesh Seed Association (BSA) with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bangladesh organised the event at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC).

Of the gross demand for potato seeds, private sector occupies 15 percent of the market while public sector 5 percent, according to the paper presented by Abishkar Subedi, team leader of Netherlands-Bangladesh Seed Scoping Mission.

Formal sector supplies 135,000 tonnes of seed with 70 percent coming from the private sector, according to the paper.

At the event, private seed companies stressed the need for dedicated cold storage for preserving the seed potatoes.

The tuber crop is grown on 12.5 percent of Bangladesh's total cropped land and farmers produced over one crore tonnes of potatoes in the last three years, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

More than 100 varieties of potatoes are registered in Bangladesh and 10 varieties namely Diamant, Asterix, Carolus, Margarita, Cardinal, and Barcelona are popular among farmers, according to the workshop.