In Bangladesh Potato prices halve on higher yields

In Bangladesh, favourable weather conditions and higher acreage are likely to boost potato yield in the ongoing harvesting season and have already pulled down the tuber's prices, agriculture officials and cold storage operators said yesterday.

In the current season, farmers planted potatoes on 4.6 lakh hectares of land, up from 4.3 lakh hectares last season, said Rafiqul Hasan, deputy director (monitoring) of the Department of Agricultural Extension, citing preliminary estimates.

Potato prices have already halved to Tk 14-15 a kilogram in the city markets, compared to the prices a month ago, according to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh produced 82.05 lakh tonnes in 2011-12, down from 83.26 lakh tonnes in the previous year, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

"Harvesting is going on and production is good so far. We expect potato output to rise this season, as the weather was favourable and the extent of pest attack was very low,"said Hasan.