Now potato prices jump

The price of potatoes is now on the rise in different markets in Munshiganj in line with the spiralling cost of other essentials.

A kilogram of potato is now selling for Tk 20-22, up from Tk 12-13 two weeks ago.

The price hike has been blamed on a section of traders, who have hoarded potatoes in cold storage.

There is a shortage of potatoes in wholesale markets as potatoes are not coming out of the cold storage, according to Swapon Miah, a vegetable seller in a kitchen market in Munshiganj town.

At present, retailers are getting by with the potatoes that farmers are harvesting and selling straight to the wholesalers.

Between January and April, potatoes were cultivated in about 35,796 hectares of land in Munshiganj and 11 lakh tonnes of potatoes were produced, according to the district agriculture office.

Farmers will run out of potatoes to supply to wholesalers in two weeks or so, said Alauddin Hossain, a vegetable seller in Munshiganj's Sreepalli area.

"Then there will be a crisis," he added.

Rashraj Madbar, who has been hoarding the tuber, says he is waiting for the price to go up further to release his stock from the cold storage. "If I sell them now, I will have to incur losses," he added.

And yet, the farmers, who are growing the vegetable, say they will be racking up losses as their cultivation cost was high this year due to rain.

Kamrul Hasan Russel, a farmer of Hamidpur village in Munshiganj Sadar Upazila, said his production cost was Tk 18-19 a kg but he is selling his harvest at Tk 16-17 to wholesalers.

Contacted, Asif Al Azad, assistant director of the Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection in Munshiganj, said: "We have not received any complaint from any consumers regarding the crisis of potatoes and its price hike. Potato supplies are sufficient -- we have kept watch on the market."