Potatoes produced by BADC’s contract growers going abroad

Potatoes produced by contract growers of the Bangladesh Agricultural Corporation (BADC) are now being exported to Malaysia, a development that is likely to encourage farmers to improve the quality of their produce in order to reap fair prices. 

Under the supervision of BADC, the first consignment of 28 tonnes of the diamond potato variety was sent to Malaysia on March 30.

Another roughly 70-tonne shipment of potato was sent abroad in two phases earlier this month, according to Abdul Hai, deputy director (tuber crops) at BADC's Panchagarh office.

The shipment increased the scope for potato growers to get higher prices as the popular vegetable is sold at Tk 10-12 per kilogramme (kg) in the capital's Farmgate area yesterday.

Hai said contract growers get Tk 14.20 per kg for exported potatoes.

Officials and farmers said BADC produces foundation and certified seeds of potatoes through its contract growers.

BADC buys foundation and certified seeds from farmers after harvest. Farmers have to sell the rest of the vegetable to local markets, where the prospect of getting fair prices in the peak season remains elusive.

Abdul Matin, a farmer from Panchagarh Sadar upazila, said farmers will feel encouraged to cultivate potatoes on more land if they get higher prices because of increased exports.

The farmer from the northwest bordering district cultivated the diamond potato variety on 11 acres of land by investing Tk 11 lakh this season.

Of the production, he exported 18 tonnes to Malaysia through BADC.

Matin is expected to supply 66 tonnes of potato seeds to BADC at an approximate price Tk 20 per kg. He will sell the rest of the potatoes to the local market.

Potato cultivation has grown 4 per cent year-on-year to reach 4.86 lakh hectares, data from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) shows.

Growers produced 96 lakh tonnes of the tuber crop in fiscal 2019-20, according to BBS estimates.

Of the total production, 46,000 tonnes were exported.

Similarly, around 45,600 tonnes of potatoes were shipped between July and April of the ongoing fiscal, said Mohammad Anwar Hossain, director of the DAE's Plant Quarantine Wing.

KS Trade International, a local exporter, had sent the shipment on behalf of BADC to Malaysian importer Chin Huat Trading.

BADC targets to export 500 tonnes of potato this year.

Apart from Panchagarh, 57 tonnes from Bogura, 27 tonnes from Ullapara in Sirajganj and 150 tonnes from Rangpur had already been exported as of Tuesday.

Sources said the BADC has cultivated three varieties of potato, including BARI Alu-7 (diamond), BARI Alu-13 (granula) and BARI Alu-25 (Esterik), on 300 acres of land in the export-block under 18 zones of the country.

From this harvest, 5,000 tonnes of potato have been sorted for export year-round and will be kept in BADC's cold storages. 

Md Biozid, a contract grower at Marea Keramatpara village at Boda upazila of Panchagarh who cultivated potato on 23 acres area exported three tonnes of the crop.

The grower who invested Tk 22 lakh to cultivate potato expected to earn Tk 35 lakh from the harvest.

Biozid said BADC provided loans of Tk 68,000 per acre, which was very helpful to mitigate cultivation costs.

In Panchagarh, growers cultivated potato on 300 acres of land under the supervision of BADC.

Abdul Hai said the sandy-loamy soil of Panchagarh is good for potato cultivation. The tuber crops grown here are popular among exporters because of their good size, shapes and colour.

He hoped that potato exports from the region would increase further in the future.