As the potato production has become more than double compared to its domestic demand, the government is eyeing on producing quality potatoes to increase exports for enabling Bangladesh earn foreign currencies manifold. The country can easily reach to the stage of earning foreign currencies several times higher than the existing slab, though it has now been exporting potatoes to different foreign countries in a limited scale.
Lack of disease-free potato seeds, processing industries and insufficient storage facilities have been attributed to hindering of the enhancement of the potato exports. Of late, a project has been approved at the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) to support the production of quality potato in the country by providing quality seeds to the farmers to meet growing domestic demand and making available quality potatoes for export.
The project will be implemented at a cost of Tk 688.21 crore. The government will provide Tk 595 crore while the rest will come from the BADC's fund. The quality criteria falls to the notion that each potato weighing 100 grams to 105 grams and 40-60 millimeters bright color with shallow eyed tuber and longer dormancy skin is preferable. The best time to export potatoes ranges between February and March, as the exporters preferred fresh potatoes than storage potatoes.
At present, the country is producing more than 80 lakh tonnes of potatoes where the local demand is only 40 lakh tonnes. Despite the huge yield, marginal farmers are unable to get the full benefit of the production. According to the Agriculture Information Service (AIS), since the beginning of the export of potatoes in a limited span, during 2007 the government exported the highest amount of 8000 tonnes. Later in 2011, the amount topped to 20000 tonnes.
Based on the statistics, it is learnt that in recent time the country’s potato demand goes high in Thailand and Indonesia. However, only in Malaysia, the country’s potato demand is 10 lakh tonnes, followed by three lakh tonnes in Singapore and Sri Lanka. Besides the Middle Eastern countries, Russia and other parts of the world have vast potato demand.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) statistics, the country earned Tk 272 crore by exporting potatoes during 2014-15. Of the total amount, Tk 104 crore was earned only from Malaysia and Tk 72 crore from Russia. The Bangladesh Potato Exporters Association (BPEA) information showed as the country is producing a huge quantity of potatoes, a large amount of the potatoes goes wasted after meeting the local demand and due to the shortage of storage capacities.
The AIS showed, the country’s potato production reached to 103.17. lakh tonnes in the last couple of years. Of the total production, the highest 22-25 lakh tonnes potatoes can be preserved in the country’s 325 cold storages. However, a large quantity of potatoes spoil at farmer’s house or elsewhere.
Despite this huge potential, the country is still unable to enhance export of potatoes, as it’s not meeting the quality demand. According to exporters' information, all potatoes produced in the country are not equally accepted by foreign counties. In Singapore, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka granola potatoes demand is high. In Malaysia, diamond and cardinal potatoes are being exported.
Commenting on this, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said, to boost the potato export, the government has taken an initiative to export potatoes during its harvest period. Research will also be conducted to ensure production of quality potatoes.
