In line with the spiralling cost of other daily essentials, the retail price of potato rose sharply by 39 per cent.

Each kilogramme (kg) was selling for Tk 22 to Tk 28 in Dhaka markets yesterday whereas it was Tk 16 to Tk 20 a month ago, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

A number of traders and farmers attributed the price rise to fields cultivated earlier this season being damaged by flash floods amid incessant rain last month alongside depletion of stocks kept in cold storages.

Yesterday, traders at the cold storage gates were offering each 60 kg bag of potato for Tk 850, which comes to about Tk 14 per kg.

Just a week ago, they were having to do with Tk 650, which is about 31 per cent less, they added.

Following several days of rain, flash floods occurred between October 19- October 21 across several northern districts, including Rangpur, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat and Gaibandha.

As such, fast-growing potato varieties planted early in the season and numerous other crops in the region were lost.

So, potato cultivation in the northern region has been delayed by about 20 days, farmers and traders said, adding that it would take more than one-and-a-half months for newly cultivated potatoes to reach the market.

Md Abu Bakkar Siddique, deputy director of Nilphamari, said about 1,627 hectares of cropland which were being used for the cultivation of potato, paddy and other vegetables were damaged by the recent floods.

Meanwhile, potato stocks kept in the cold storage for sale in this lean period are running out, said numerous traders.

This depleting stock and damage to the fast-growing variety are the reasons behind the potato price hike.

Although marginal consumers are paying a high price for potatoes, the farmers and traders who stored the tuber crop in cold storages for sale in the lean period are not getting their share, they added.

Mazharul Islam, a potato farmer in Joypurhat, one of the main potato producing districts in the country's north, said the wholesale price was almost half of the retail price.

Islam stored nearly 4.5 tonnes of the vegetable in a cold storage this year, including 3.6 tonnes grown on his own fields.

He bought the rest for about Tk 17.5 per kg during the peak harvesting season to sell in the lean period.

"I have already sold two-thirds of the potato at a loss of Tk 350 per 60-kg bag. Though the price has risen slightly in the wholesale market, it is still less than the production and storage costs," Islam added.

Manik Mia, a potato grower and trader in Dinajpur who stored 6,000 bags of the tuber crop this year, said he has already sold all of his produce in this lean period at a loss of Tk 10 lakh due to the prevailing low price.

"If the price of potato had gone up in the wholesale market at the current rate of the retail market, farmers and traders would not have to incur so much loss," Mia said, adding that middlemen were the ones making a profit now.

A CAUSE OF CONCERN FOR THE POOR

With the prices of daily commodities rice, flour, chicken, onion, sugar, oil and vegetables in the kitchen market increasing one after another, potatoes are the only low-cost option for a decent meal for the country's Covid-stricken low-income and marginal people.

"Potato was the prime item at daily meals of my five-member family as the prices of other essential commodities have already gone beyond my purchasing capacity," said Shahinul Islam, who worked at a restaurant in Dhanmondi area.

"Now the price of potato is rising and I do not know how I will survive with my school-going son and family in Dhaka with my shrunken income," he added.

This correspondent spoke to multiple people from low-income and marginal households, including street vendors, rickshaw pullers and housemaids in the capital.

They shared similar concerns about the price hike of essential commodities, especially potatoes.

This calendar year, farmers produced 1.06 crore tonnes of the tuber, up 10 per cent from 96 lakh tonnes in 2020, according to data from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

Despite the bumper yield of potato, growers and traders suffered huge losses as demand fell amidst the recurring countrywide lockdowns aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19.

Bangladesh Cold Storage Association estimated that growers and traders stored 55 lakh tonnes of potato this year to sell during the lean season.

Of the quantity, roughly 10 lakh tonnes will be used as seed and the rest for consumption.