Agriculture Extension Department (AED) officials said production of potato is around three lakh tonnes this year. The production is increasing as farmers are switching to it in large numbers as the soil is suitable for potato cultivation.

But a large chunk of the produce is taken away by traders from outside the district during the peak harvesting season at virtually throwaway prices because farmers do not have any cold storage facility.

Mohammad Siddique of Purdua Ilisha village told this correspondent during a visit that he is at a loss with about 1000 maunds of potato grown in ten bighas of land. Abu Taher Palwan of the same village said he got around 1200 maunds from 15 bighas.

They said they will have to sell their produce at around Tk 200 per maund to traders now. The price will be around Tk 300 per maund only after fifteen days and to around Tk 400 after a month but they will not get the fair price because there is no cold storage facility in the district.

Same is the situation for all farmers who go for commercial cultivation of potato, tomato and other vegetables.

When contacted, Fazlul Kader Molla, former president of Bhola Chamber of Commerce, said he tried to set up a cold storage but failed due to non-availability of bank loan facilities. He said there is scope for setting up of specialised cold storage in the district to preserve other vegetables like tomato, grown abundantly in the district.

Potato traders and farmers pointed out that a large godown owned by Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) is lying unused for over ten years in the district. The godown was built about 20 years back at a cost of Tk five crore to store fertiliser. They suggested that the godown could be turned into a cold storage to store potato. This will benefit several thousand potato farmers, they said.

When contacted, senior BADC officials at Bhola declined to comment on the suggestion. This is a decision to be taken by high officials, they said.