Many potato farmers across Bangladesh are incurring losses this season despite a bumper harvest and the highest exports in three years, as a steep drop in domestic prices has left them unable to recover even their production costs.

Bangladesh exported 48,177 tonnes of potatoes until April this fiscal year, up from 12,112 tonnes last fiscal year and 32,392 tonnes in fiscal year 2022-23, according to the data of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).

Many farmers of different districts reported that they were unable to secure space in cold storages and were forced to sell their produce at prices well below production costs.

Meanwhile, driven by high prices during the previous season, farmers expanded potato cultivation this year in anticipation of better profits.

Potato seeds are typically planted between October and November, with harvesting taking place from February to April.

Potato cultivation rose to a record 5.24 lakh hectares this season – a 15 percent increase from the previous season, according to the DAE data.

Farmers had hoped to cash in on last year's price surge, when potatoes fetched up to Tk 80 per kilogramme (kg), expecting similar returns this season.

Potatoes were sold at retail prices of Tk 18-25 per kg in Dhaka markets yesterday, and last year at this time, potatoes were sold for Tk 50-55 per kg, showed data of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the price of potatoes has decreased by 4.44 percent in the past week, the data showed.

Mohammad Kaium, a potato wholesaler at Karwan Bazar, one of the largest kitchen markets in Dhaka, told The Daily Star that just five days ago, potatoes sold at Tk 15-16 per kg due to a supply shortage.

However, as supply has increased, the price has now dropped to Tk 12-13 per kg, he said.

The situation is worse in potato-producing hubs like Munshiganj, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Rangpur and Joypurhat, with farmers reporting prices as low as Tk 10-11 per kg – far below the production costs.

The Department of Agricultural Marketing estimates the country's average production cost at Tk 14 per kg this season. For farmers in the northern region, it is around Tk 20 per kg.

The country has produced a record 1.29 crore tonnes of potatoes this season, surpassing the country's annual demand of around 90 lakh tonnes, said Md Obaidur Rahman Mondol, director for the Field Service Wing at the DAE.

Although the government estimates that around 30 percent of the total produce is lost due to shortcomings in storage facilities, this oversupply means there may be little relief for small farmers.

Nazrul Islam, a farmer of Puratan Thakurgaon in sadar upazila, said he cultivated potatoes on 23 bighas of land and harvested 2,070 maunds.

He said the production cost stood at Tk 18 per kg, but now he was compelled to sell his produce at Tk 8 to Tk 10 per kg. During the harvesting season, each kg of potato was sold between Tk 12 to Tk 15.

Nazrul said he managed to store 300 sacks of potatoes – each sack weighing 65 kg – in a cold storage, although he had intended to store 1,000 sacks, for failing to secure enough space.

He said he had no idea how to recover the losses and start preparing for cultivating the next crop.

Nirmal Chandra, another farmer of the same area, who cultivated potatoes on 180 bighas of land this season, echoed Islam.

He also said he intended to preserve 10,000 sacks of potatoes in cold storage, but could manage space for only 1,700 sacks.

Motiur Rahman, a 47-year-old farmer of Puria village in Dinajpur's Birol upazila, said he was able to keep just 300 sacks of potatoes in a cold storage instead of 1,000 sacks.

During a recent visit to Thakurgaon and its adjoining districts, this correspondent saw rotten potatoes dumped on roads.

Md Reaz Uddin, an additional director at the DAE's Dinajpur district office, said farmers have produced more potatoes this season than last year as they received good returns from potato farming last season.

"We have advised the growers to preserve as much of their produce as possible using traditional methods," he said.

Ashraf Sarkar, a farmer from Munshiganj sadar, cultivated potatoes on 115 decimals of land this season.

"I had to spend Tk 25 to produce each kg of potato. Since I couldn't sell them, I stored them in a cold storage," he said.

"Including storage costs, the price per kg will rise to Tk 32. But now, prices have dropped so low, we won't even recover half of our cost," Sarkar added.

Pappu Saha, a wholesaler from Munshirhat in Munshiganj, said farmers were leaving their potatoes at his shop for sale but prices have dropped even further, and sales were very low.

Muhammad Muslim, director of the Department of Agricultural Marketing, said the country lacks sufficient storage facilities for potatoes, leaving farmers unable to preserve their produce as needed.

As a result, they are being forced to sell at whatever price they can fetch, leading to an oversupply in the market and pushing prices down, he added.

Mostafa Azad Chowdhury Babu, president of Bangladesh Cold Storage Association, told The Daily Star that roughly 35 lakh tonnes of potatoes have been stored in 365 cold storages across the country so far.

However, despite this storage and regular consumption, a large surplus of potatoes remains in the supply chain. As a result, many farmers are now unable to recover their production costs, while a significant portion of the crop is rotting due to a lack of adequate storage space.

Moreover, the government lacks accurate data on the country's actual potato demand. This data gap leads to seasonal imbalances as farmers suffer losses in some seasons while consumers face high prices in others, he said.

This issue could be addressed if precise demand information were available to guide production and storage planning, Babu added.