Profitability of BARI Released Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Varieties in Some Selected Locations of Bangladesh

Abstract

Potato is one of the important food crops in Bangladesh. Its demand is increasing day by day. The Tuber Crop Research Centre (TCRC) of BARI released 40 HYV potato varieties and disseminated them in the farmer's fields through different agencies. But most varieties were not adopted well by the farmers due to unknown reasons. Therefore, an attempt was made to assess the level of adoption and profitability of BARI released potato variety at farm level. Data were collected from 150 randomly selected potato farmers from Munshigonj, Bogra and Comilla districts during January-February 2010. The results indicated that 48% potato areas were covered by Diamant variety, 16% by Cardinal, 22% by Granola, and the rest 14% areas were covered by Binella, Asterix, Provento, Felsina, Multa and Hira. The cost of BARI released potato cultivation was Tk 2, 10,629 and Tk 1, 84,135 per hectare on full cost and variable cost basis. The major share of total cost was for seed (42%) followed by fertilizer (21%) and human labour (14%). The average yield of potato was 26 t/ha with gross margin of Tk 1, 51,003 per hectare. The net return of potato cultivation was Tk 1, 24,509 per hectare. The benefit cost ratios were 1.59 and 1.82 on full cost and variable cost basis. Human labour, land preparation, seed, and irrigation had positive and significant effect on potato production. Nonavailability of HYV seed at proper time, lack of technical knowledge, high price of seed and fertilizer, infestation of insect and diseases, and lack of storage facilities were the major problems of potato production.

Profitability and resource use efficiency of potato cultivation in Munshiganj district of Bangladesh

“…1,91,345) in Munshigonj district than any other potato producing area of Bangladesh by Haque et al (2012). They also found the net return of potato cultivation was Tk.…”

“…The measure of the overall fit of the estimated regression, F-value (26.08) was significant at 1 percent level of significance, implying that all the explanatory variables included in the model were important for explaining the variations in gross returns of potato production. Haque et al (2012) also found all the co-efficients of human labour, land preparation, seed and NPK fertilizer were positive and significant at 1% level of significance indicating 10% increase in the cost of human labor, land preparation, seed and NPK fertilizer, remaining other factors constant would increase the yield of potato by 2.25, 0.76, 3.13 and 3.86%, respectively. Ahmed et al (2009) also carried out a research on the same and the research revealed that seed and pesticides had positive but TSP and MP had negative significant effect on gross return of potato production in Mymensing district of Bangladesh.…”

“…The data tabulated on table 1 further shows that farmers used higher amount of fertilizers compared to other areas might be due to less confidence on the recommended doses of fertilizers. Earlier study on potato also found that Munshiganj's farmers used higher dose of fertilizers (Haq et al, 1995 andHaque et al, 2012). …”

“…But scarcity of quality seed compelled some farmers to use the inferior seed (Huq, 1998). As a result, the Tuber Crop Research Centre (TCRC) of BARI released 40 HYV potato varieties which have good yield potential and tolerant to insect pests and diseases (Haque et al, 2012). BADC also produces quality potato seeds under contract farming and distribute them to the producers, yet evidence is lacking (Moniruzzaman et al, 2015).…”

“…In 2014-15, around 92,54,000 metric tons of potato have been produced from 4,71,000 hectares (3.09% of total cultivated area) of land in Bangladesh (BBS, 2015). Among all crops, potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most important vegetables as well as cash crops in Bangladesh (Haque et al, 2012). In fact, short cycle of potato frees the land for cultivating other crops (Walker et al, 1999).…”