The current market price of potatoes

does not cover the cost of production, let alone the cost of transporting potatoes from farmers' land to cold storage, including the rent of the cold storage. As a result, farmers are frustrated and do not go to the cold storage to sell potatoes. Since farmers are not coming to sell potatoes, wholesalers are spending time sitting in the cold storage.

It is known that this year, a lot of potatoes have been produced in Munshiganj. But due to the lack of prices since the potatoes were harvested, farmers have been facing losses. Many people stored potatoes in cold storage in the hope of higher prices, but this caused them even more losses. Even by selling potatoes, the capital is far from being recovered, the rent of the cold storage, the cost of transportation to bring potatoes, the price of empty sacks, and the cost of the measuring bush are not even covered.

A 50 kg sack of potatoes is currently being sold in cold storage for 450 to 480 taka. In Munshiganj, the rent for a cold storage is 300 taka, the cost of bringing a sack of potatoes to the cold storage is 40 to 100 taka depending on the location, the price of an empty sack is 50 to 70 taka, and the cost of planting potatoes in the field for storing in the cold storage is another 20-30 taka, all of which are not borne by the farmers.

According to the district agriculture department, a total of 10.8 million metric tons of potatoes have been produced this year. Of this, 450,000 tons have been stored in cold storage. And 600,000 tons have been stored in the field in piles or in the backyards using the indigenous method.

Delwar Hossain, president of the

Potato Farmers and Traders Welfare Association, said that the cost of cultivating one kilogram of potatoes is 16 taka. If stored in cold storage, the cost increases to 26 taka. However, now they are being sold in cold storage for only 12-13 taka. This results in an average loss of 13-14 taka per kilogram. Farmers have lost about 400 crore taka just from the potatoes stored in cold storage.

On the other hand, it has been learned from those involved in potato cultivation that farmers are facing losses due to rotting of potatoes kept at home. An estimated 1.5 lakh metric tons of potatoes have been destroyed, resulting in a loss of around Tk 270 crore. Farmers have lost another Tk 495 crore by selling the remaining potatoes at low prices. In total, the total loss of farmers in potato cultivation and sale stands at more than Tk 1165 crore.

On-site visits to several cold storages

have shown that potatoes are not being sold from the cold storages as they should be. So, wholesalers are sitting in the cold storages and playing Ludo. Farmers are not coming to the cold storages to sell because the price of potatoes is low.