Bangladesh, despite having surplus production, is failing to grab the opportunity of potato exports for lack of sufficient laboratory facilities and shortages of potato varieties, Bangladesh Potato Exporters Association experts have said. They also put emphasis on contract farming to help the marginal potato farmers to improve quality of their produces by providing them with technical assistance.
They were speaking in a workshop titled “Production of Export Quality Potatoes Through Contract Farming’ at Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) auditorium in the capital on Saturday. The Bangladesh Potato Exporters Association (BPEA) in association with the Agro Products Business Promotion Council of Commerce Ministry organized the workshop to discuss ways to improve quality of potatoes to increase exports of potatoes, which saw downtrend in the last few years.
Rezaul Karim, joint director and chief coordinator, research cell, BADC, said in his presentation on exportable potato production, collection and processing technology that the production of potatoes in the country was 1 bln tons against the total local demand for 700-800 mln tons. The rest (200-300 mln tons) he mentioned, remained extra, causing price slump and losses to farmers.
If these extra potatoes could be exported, farmers could get the profit, he observed. "Cultivation through contract farming is a recognized method. Producing and marketing exportable quality potatoes depend on production and processing techniques. So it is important to select varieties and seeds of potatoes," he said in the program.
