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Country's cold storage owners have urged the government to include potato to be sold along with rice among 5.5 million poor people under its special food-friendly programme, scheduled to begin in next month.
Under the special programme, the government is set to sell rice at Tk 15 per kg among the targeted families across the country from August, sources said.
Besides, Bangladesh Cold Storage Association (BCSA) has also requested the government to fix minimum price of potato at Tk 25 per kg at cold storage gate.
The association in a letter on July 20 made the appeal to the Ministry of Commerce for taking necessary steps in this regard.
It also sent the proposal to the ministries of Finance, Agriculture and Food also, it was learnt.
In its letter, the association claimed that about 13 million tonnes of potato were produced in the country in 2024, about 4.0 million tonnes higher than that of its domestic demand.
Because of the supply glut, the prices of potato remained lower than the expected level at the retail levels.
But the key vegetable item is selling between Tk 13 and Tk 15 per kg in different growing zones, according to the cold storage operators.
They also claimed that potato growers have to spend Tk 25 for storage of a kg of potato.
If its cost of production and storage costs are calculated, the total costs for a kg of potato reach Tk 17, according to the association.
To protect the interest of the country's potato farmers, the government should fix the minimum prices of potato at Tk 25 per kg at cold-storage gate.
Besides, the association also expressed the hope that the government should sell at least 10 kgs of potato among 5.5 million poor families under its special food-friendly programme.
They also expressed their fears that the local potato farmers will be discouraged to grow potato all over the country in 2026 if the government does not ensure the storage-gate price of potato at Tk 25 per lg.
Presently, there are 3.5 million tonnes of potatoes are stored in some 350 cold storages across the country.
The cold storages owners viewed that around 20-30 per cent of stored potatoes are likely to be unsold unless its rate is raised.
At the end of the year, cold storage owners would have to count huge financial losses.
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