The sale of potatoes at the government's fixed price starts in Bogura from Friday morning.
After a decision taken in a meeting with the Deputy Commissioner of Bogura and the owners of the cold storages on Thursday, the cold storage owners start to sell 6,000 kgs of potatoes daily at Tk 36 per kilogramme from Friday morning.
On the other hand, some traders in Bogura have also started to sell some three tonnes of Indian potato at the wholesale rate of Tk. 37 per kg. The retailers sell the Indian potato at Tk 40 t0 42 per kg.
On Friday morning, the 'stick variety of potato' was being sold at the wholesale rate of Tk 42 while the retailers are selling that at Tk 48 to 52 while the 'Pakri variety of potato' was being sold at Tk 54 at the cold storages and at Tk 62 to 65 by the retailers at Rajabazar of the district.
Potato trader Raihan Ali at Rajabazar informed the price of potatoes at the cold storages has been decreased and the price is also likely to come down at the local markets soon. Another trader Abdur Razzak informed he has been selling the potatoes at the government-fixed price.
Safiul Alam, Masud Parvez and Kabir Ahmed came to Razabazar to purchase paddy. They said the consumers were happy as the potato is being sold at a fixed price. They hope the price of potatoes would fall further with the supply of more Indian and local potatoes at the government's fixed prices.
Matlubur Rahman, Deputy Director of the Agriculture Extension Department, Bogura, informed the price of potatoes suddenly increased abnormally due to the greed of some dishonest traders. He added, still there is still a huge stock of potatoes in the cold storages and Indian potatoes are also in the markets. So, the greedy potato traders should be alert so that they do not incur losses.
Parimal Prasad, General Secretary of Traders' Association and wholesale trader of Rajabazar of Bogura informed, three tonnes of Indian potato are being sold at the government fixed price. The price of potatoes would fall further with more supply of Indian potatoes.
Jahangir Alam Pramanik, Deputy Director of Hili Landport informed a total of 178 metric tonnes of Indian potato have been imported so far from India and the import is continuing.Saiful Islam, Deputy Commissioner of Bogura informed necessary step has been taken to sell potatoes at the government's fixed price.
