According to the Department of Agricultural Marketing, there are 39 cold storages in different upazilas of Rajshahi district. Of these, 37 are currently operational. These cold storages have a total storage capacity of 433,250 metric tons of potatoes.
However, there are allegations that due to the high potato production this season, many cold storages have been storing more potatoes than their capacity. Concerned parties also alleged that some cold storages were forced to take in extra potatoes due to political pressure at the beginning of the season.
The risk of potato rot has increased due to two reasons – excess potatoes and power outages. In the meantime, images of rotten potatoes being taken out of Tamanna Special Cold Storage in Talanda area of Tanor Upazila every day by truckloads have been seen.
Saiful Islam, a businessman who stores potatoes in that cold storage, said, “Excess potatoes were taken compared to the capacity. Now, due to load shedding, the potatoes are rotting. The rotten potatoes have to be thrown away.”
However, Rajshahi District Potato and Raw Materials Cooperative Association President Ahad Ali is not blaming the power outage for the potato rot. He claims that the potatoes are being spoiled due to mismanagement by cold storage owners. Such a situation has arisen due to excess storage of potatoes at the beginning of the season.
Iftekharul Islam Doni, the organization’s general secretary, said that the risk of rotting has increased due to excess potato storage. The position of potatoes has to be changed 25 to 30 times a year in a cold storage. At this time, the potatoes need to be taken out and aired. But due to excess potatoes, many cold storages are not able to do this process properly this time.
He said that the capacity of Rahman Brothers-1 cold storage in Alaibidirpur, Rajshahi, is 14 to 15 thousand metric tons. About 16 and a half thousand tons of potatoes are stored there. Similarly, he also alleged that potatoes are stored in excess of capacity in almost all cold storages.
On the other hand, Rajshahi Cold Storage Association General Secretary Fazlur Rahman said that due to pressure at the beginning of the season, some cold storages were forced to take extra potatoes. However, there is no major problem in the cold storage management and this is not causing any problems for the potatoes.
He admitted that there is an additional cost due to load shedding. Fazlur Rahman said that even if the power goes out, the temperature inside the cold storage is controlled for one to two hours. If there is no power for more than that, the generator has to be run using fuel oil. This is costing an additional 8 to 10 thousand taka per hour. The generator has to be run for one to two hours every day.
He also said that the electricity bills of the cold storages are already very high. Each cold storage has to pay an electricity bill of about 25 to 28 lakh taka per month. Adding to this, the fuel cost of the generator has created additional pressure on the owners. Therefore, he demanded to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the cold storages.
Senior General Manager of Rajshahi Palli Bidyut Samity, Ramendra Chandra Roy, said that the load shedding situation has improved since last Wednesday. The situation is currently good. He also said that no one has called him to complain about the power shortage in the cold storage.
According to the cold storage owners, while temporary power outages can be dealt with by generators, if there is a lack of storage and management of excess potatoes, it may become difficult to prevent rotting. This ultimately risks losses for all three parties – farmers, traders and cold storage owners.