Govt to procure potatoes to support farmers: Adviser

Agriculture and Home Affairs Adviser Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Saturday said the government will procure potatoes this year to support farmers as they are not getting fair prices due to higher production.

“Although vegetable prices are rising, potato prices have dropped. Farmers are not getting fair value for potatoes this year, and they are incurring losses. That is why the government has planned to procure some potatoes,” he said.

The adviser was briefing reporters after visiting different research and processing centres of Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) in Gabtoli area of the capital.

The adviser said BADC’s tissue culture centres are producing tissue-cultured potatoes, pineapples, dates, and various flowers. “We import dates, but if we can expand the locally-produced seedlings through this technology, dependency on imports will decrease,”

Mentioning that Bangladesh has to import potato seeds from countries like the Netherlands at high costs, he said producing improved varieties of potato seeds locally will benefit the country’s agriculture. “BADC’s tissue culture lab is working in this regard.”

Replying to a question about the recent surge in vegetable prices, the adviser said vegetable fields have been affected by heavy rainfall, which had an impact on the market.

 “The problem will ease once the weather improves,” the adviser said.