Potato producers have come together to inaugurate this year’s exports in a sign of the country’s continued success in selling potatoes abroad.
Four potato producer cooperatives joined the inauguration in Pairabandh, Mithapukur, – the third annual inauguration in a row.
Guests included Md. Sayedul Islam, Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, and Benojir Alom, Director-General of the Department of Agricultural Extension. Private sector exporters and other government extension agency representatives joined.
Farmers from the northern region of Rangpur have been producing export-quality potatoes by using ‘good agricultural practices’ (GAP), a collection of principles for safe and healthy farming and processing.
The success of this initiative is due to a partnership between the Sara Bangla Krishak Society (SBKS), a national network of farmers’ organizations, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), under the ‘Missing Middle Initiative’ project.
The project provided GAP training to 100 farmers from four cooperatives. More than half of the farmers were women. The farmers also received pre-production, inspection, and post-harvest assistance.
FAO organized a pre-season buyer-seller meeting for officials from the Bangladesh Potato Exporters’ Association (BPEA) to meet smallholder potato farmers. Officials from the BPEA liaised with foreign buyers to get specifications and orders.
As a result, the potato producers have grown 450 metric tons of Santana potato, a high yielding Dutch commercial variety. The producers were also able to procure seeds from the exporters at an affordable price. They also grew Diamant, Cardinal, Granola, and Asterix varieties which are in high demand in Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
The Ministry of Agriculture, through the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC), has been supporting potato producers to increase export since 2019. According to DAE, more than 480 000 hectares of land were under potato production this year. The yield will be more than 11 million metric tons (MT), but domestic demand for potato is only about 7.7 million MT.
FAO Representative in Bangladesh Robert D. Simpson said: “In order to truly thrive, the potato export value chain requires a productive alliance between all involved—the government, private sector, and producer organizations. Bangladesh has a lot of potential to grow commercial and export varieties of potatoes and we are working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture to boost potato exports in order to strengthen food security and increase incomes for farmers and farming communities.”
FAO’s Missing Middle Initiative project has also supported potato producer cooperatives to establish virtual call centres which help the cooperatives buy inputs and sell their produce.
Arif Azad Prince, Managing Director of MASAWA Corporation, an agro-processing and export company, reflected that the combined effort of the government, FAO, exporters and producer cooperatives has ensured a strong export supply chain.