Bangladesh: Potatoes set to get costlier as production costs double

Armer said the price of seed potatoes had also doubled compared to last year while even the price of government seeds increased by more than Tk 10. Furthermore, the price of fertilizer increased by about Tk 300-400 per sack compared to last year while the cost of cultivation and irrigation also rose due to several hikes in fuel prices. Saiful Islam, a farmer in the Rangamati village under Bogura’s Shibganj upazila, cultivated potatoes on two bighas (66 decimals) of land this year at a cost of around Tk 55,000. Lamenting the fact, Saiful said that the cost of cultivation on the same amount of land last year would have cost no more than Tk 30,000. He said that the price of one sack (60 kg) of Asterix potato seed was Tk 1,000 last year but had now increased to between Tk 2,400-2,500. "Last year, the price of one sack of Pakri potato seeds was Tk 2,000. This time it has increased to Tk 3,500-4,000. Furthermore, the price of fertilizer increased from Tk 300 per sack to Tk 400," Saiful ...