Govt to procure potatoes to support farmers: Agri adviser
Agriculture Adviser Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Saturday said the government will procure potatoes this year to support farmers who are struggling to get fair prices due to higher production.
"Although vegetable prices are rising, potato prices have dropped. Farmers are not getting fair value for potatoes this year and are incurring losses. That is why the government has planned to procure some potatoes," he said after visiting different research and processing centres of the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) in Gabtoli, Dhaka.
Jahangir, also the home affairs adviser, said BADC's tissue culture centres are producing tissue-cultured potatoes, pineapples, dates, and various flowers.
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"We import dates, but if we can expand the locally produced seedlings through this technology, dependency on imports will decrease," he added.
Pointing out that Bangladesh has to import potato seeds from countries like the Netherlands at high costs, Jahangir Alam said producing improved varieties of potato seeds locally would benefit the country's agriculture.
"The BADC's tissue culture lab is working in this regard," he noted.
On the recent surge in vegetable prices, the adviser explained that heavy rainfall has damaged vegetable fields, impacting the market.
"The problem will ease once the weather improves," he said.
