The New Nation - Internet Edition

Our Correspondent, Lalmonirhat

From the beginning of the season of potato cultivation, the farmers of Lalmonirhat sadar and Kaliganj upazilas in the district have been facing crisis of potato seeds and have become frustrated regarding potato cultivation in the current season.

The officials of agriculture department said the target of potato cultivation in Lalmonirhat sadar and Kaliganj upazilas may be less than that of the previous year.

Taking advantage of the crisis of potato seeds, a section of potato seed traders are selling them in the vegetable market and thus causing serious damage to the potato growers.

The potato growers say the crisis has emanated from the fact that the farmers, taking advantage of good price of potatoes, sold all the potatoes including the seeds in the market for hard cash to meet the daily necessity.

The little quantity of potato seeds that remains after the sale is selling at an exorbitant price. The farmers inform, the seeds of cardinal and diamond varieties of potato are sowed in the said upazilas of the district. A sack of potato seed is selling at Tk. 2600 to 3000 against Tk. 1500 to 2000 in the previous season.

On the other hand, a section of potato traders are selling edible potatoes as potato seeds to earn profit. The farmers allege, the profit mongers are selling a sack of the same kind of potato at Tk. 2600 to 3000 against Tk. 1500 for edible potato. The sale of edible potato as potato seeds is an act of cheating the potato growers. Potato grower Sahidul Haque of Mogholhat village under Lalmonirhat sadar upazila said that he cultivated potato on eight bighas of land last year and that, finding good price of potatoes, he sold out all the potatoes he had. Now, as he could not grow good quality potato seeds in his plots, he is in crisis of the same. He said, most of the traders are not bringing out potato seeds from the store as the land could not be fully prepared.

This paves the way for the dishonest trader to cheat the potato growers. Farmer Karim Uddin of Karnapur village of Lalmonirhat sadar upazila and Sharif Uddin of village Dalgram under Kaligonj upazila said the potato growers of Lalmonirhat sadar and Kaliganj upazilas have become frustrated at the high price of potato seeds at the very beginning of the season.

They also said, most of the farmers would not be able to cultivation potato due to high prices of insecticide in the current season. The farmers have attributed the likely non-achievement of target of potato cultivation to the high prices of the leased land, fertiliser, insecticide and other agricultural inputs. The Lalmonirhat Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension Aftab Uddin Khan confirmed the crisis of potato seeds, saying that the seeds would have to be brought from other districts to meet the demand of the farmers. A total of 5,300 hectares of land for Lalmonirhat sadar upazila and 4,555 hectares of land for Kaliganj upazila have been fixed for the cultivation of potato in the current season.