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Agriculture minister visits BADC seed potato farm


Published : 27 Jan 2021 09:31 PM | Updated : 27 Jan 2021 09:39 PM

Agriculture Minister Dr. Md. Abdur Razzaque visited Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC)’s Seed Potato Farm located in Domar upazila of Nilphamari on Wednesday. 

After the inspection, the Agriculture Minister said that at present more than 10 million tons of improved varieties of potatoes are produced annually. The demand in the country is about 60-70 lakh tons. 

Due to the high water component in Bangladeshi varieties of potatoes, the demand is less in abroad. Therefore, considering the demand abroad, importance is being given to increase the cultivation and production of potatoes for export and industrial use, he added

Early, dry component prone, high yielding, export and industrial quality potatoes including Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute invented ‘Musica’, ‘Sagita’ along with imported ‘Sunshine’ ‘Prada’, ‘Queen Annie’, ‘Donata’, ‘Santana’ and ‘Labella’ verities of potatoes are being cultivated in the Seed Potato Farm. In current 2020-21 production year, seed potatoes have been firmed on 256 acres of land out of 516 acres total land of the farm.

The Minister further said that the cultivation of these high yielding potato varieties for industrial use will create immense potential for potato export while, versatile use of potatoes will increase too. 

In addition, it will be possible to produce more than double the amount of potatoes from the same amount of land. The Agriculture Minister inspected potato plots, potato crop museums, dragon fruit and date orchards at the time.

At the time, Agriculture Secretary Md. Mesbahul Islam, BADC Chairman Md. Sayedul Islam, DAE Director General Md. Asadullah, BRRI DG Md. Shahjahan Kabir, BARC Executive Chairman Dr. Sheikh Mohammad Bakhtiyar, BARI DG Nazirul Islam and Wheat and Corn Research Institute DG Dr. Md. Esrail Hossain was present.