Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) has been able to produce 1-lakh metric tonnes of potato seed potato and they are expecting to export 5,000 metric tonnes of potato this year after meeting local demand.
The BADC officials said these at the inaugural ceremony of a two-day training of seed dealers and potato farmers on production, collection, preservation, quality control and pest management of seed potato in Faridpur on Friday.
The programme organised by Faridpur (BADC Cold Storage) Deputy Director (TC) Office under BADC with the funding of Project for Strengthening Production and Preservation of Quality Seed Potatoes and Distribution at Farmer Level was held at the conference room of Faridpur Domrakandi BADC cold storage. Md Mostafizur Rahman, Member Director of BADC (Seeds and Horticulture) inaugurated the two-day training as the chief guest while, Dhaka BADC (Seed) General Manager Prakash Kanti Mandal addressed it as a special guest. The training was held under the chairmanship of BADC Project Director Md. Abir Hossain.
BADC Joint Director Abdul Samad Khan, Faridpur BADC Cold Storage (TC) Deputy Director KM Moniruzzaman, BADC Deputy Assistant Director Md Abdullah Al Mamun and others also spoke at the time.
Speakers on the occasion requested the contracted farmers of BADC Cold Storage TC not to collect low quality seed potato. “If good seed potatoes are produced, the farmers will benefit by producing quality crop,” they added. Potato is the second most important crop in Bangladesh after paddy in terms of international price and production. In terms of potato production, Bangladesh ranks third in Asia and seventh in the world. The amount of land brought under potato cultivation is about 4.64 lakh hectares, informed the officials at the time.
There is no other cultivable crop with such a high yield (average yield 23 tonnes per hectare) at a single time, like potato. In addition, there are no natural calamities during the potato-growing season. Therefore, the total production and average yield of potato in the country continues to grow as potato growers are getting more and more encouragement.
