Farmers and traders in Joypurhat are not collecting the potatoes they stored in cold storage, because selling them at the gate would not cover the rent and the loans they took against the stock. Prices have kept falling since the potatoes went into storage, and growers stayed away from the stores from the start of the season. Nearly half of the stored potatoes are still there.
Cold store owners say several notices have brought no response. With the season over and new potatoes about to reach the market, the stores have set a 15 November deadline, published public notices in newspapers and are announcing it by loudspeaker in the villages. The notices say the machines will be switched off and the stores will not be responsible for potatoes not collected in time. For two months the notices have failed to bring the growers back.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, Joypurhat’s 22 cold stores held 237,212 tonnes of potatoes this year. Because prices are low, nearly half is still in storage. Moving that much onto the market by 15 November would raise supply and could push prices lower still. New potatoes are also due, and farmers and traders fear the old stock will not sell before the new crop arrives in full.
Farmers and traders said that, compared with the past five years, potatoes of various varieties are selling at Tk 450 to 500 a sack (60 kg) at the end of the year. At that price farmers cannot repay the cold storage rent and their loans, and growers, traders and cold store owners are all in serious trouble.
All 22 cold stores in the district were filled to capacity this year. Farmers and traders store potatoes because prices are low in the harvest season. The district needed 40,000 tonnes of potatoes for its own consumption, and most of the crop is sold to other districts. Because prices were low from the start of the season, half of the stored potatoes are still held, and new potatoes are about to arrive. Old potatoes are selling at Tk 7 to 8 a kg at the cold store gate.
Farmers said producing a kilogram of potatoes cost Tk 19 to 20 this season. Storage rent added Tk 6.75 and labour, twine, transport and loading another Tk 2, for a total of Tk 28 a kg. The current price is Tk 7 to 8 a kg. Storing potatoes has brought no profit and has wiped out their capital. To take the potatoes out, they must pay the rent and repay the loans taken from the cold store, which is why nobody is coming to collect them.
Joyen Mia, a potato farmer from Dokandarpara in Kalai municipality, said he stored 50 sacks because the price was low in the season. Had he sold instead of storing, he would at least have got a little money. Now, to sell, he would have to add Tk 450 a sack from his own pocket to pay the rent and repay the loan. He said he had borrowed Tk 15,000 against the potatoes and did not know how he would repay it. The cold store keeps calling him to collect the potatoes; he has told them he will not take them this year, and they keep calling.
Moklesur Rahman, a farmer from Bagoil village, had stored his potatoes at the Punot cold store. On Friday he came to sell them but, thinking of the rent, went home without selling. Had he sold then, he said, he would not be worrying about the rent now. Countless potato farmers and traders across Joypurhat face the same crisis.
Abul Hossain, a farmer from Awra village, said the cold store had been announcing by loudspeaker for several days that potatoes not taken out by 15 November would no longer be its responsibility, and that it would still charge rent even if prices were low. He said he did not know what to do. With new potatoes arriving, nobody wants the old ones at all.
Mithu Fakir, a trader at Punot bazaar, said he stored 17,000 sacks in several cold stores and has sold about 9,000 at low prices, already losing about Tk 10 million. If he has to pay rent on the remaining 8,000 sacks, he cannot reckon how much more he will lose at current prices, so he has stopped going to the cold stores. “I have been counting losses like this for three years,” he said. “It has broken my back. My debts have grown. I could not even renew my cash credit loan this year. It has become hard to keep the business going.”
Enamul Haque, assistant manager of Punot Cold Storage, said 43 percent of the stored potatoes are still held on average, and only 2 percent were sold in the past week. With new potatoes due, the loudspeaker announcements are being made on the owners’ instructions to have the potatoes collected by 15 November.
District agricultural marketing officer Mehedi Hasan said letters had been sent to the cold stores asking them to extend the storage period to 31 December.
Joypurhat Deputy Commissioner Al Mamun Mia said: “I have heard about it. We will look into why the cold stores are announcing 15 November and take action.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report