Bangladesh
Bangladesh-Japan Potatoes from Bangladesh to be exported to Japan
Dhaka, April 28: A Japanese company has shown interest in importing Valencia variety of potatoes produced in Bangladesh. Siya Khado, the top official of the Japanese company, said this interest while meeting with Agriculture Minister Dr. Md. Abdur Razzak at the Westin Hotel in Tokyo, Japan on Thursday. ACI Agribusiness President FH Ansari was with them.
At that time, the agriculture minister said that more than 1 million tonnes of potatoes are produced in Bangladesh annually. The demand is like 60-70 lakh tonnes. The varieties of potatoes that are currently being produced in the country, the demand for them abroad is very low. That is why emphasis is being laid on expanding exportable and industrial potato varieties. Already, many improved varieties have been brought from abroad through BADC, the work of expanding them at the farmer level is going on. We declared potato as an unregulated crop, so that it would be easier to introduce privately improved varieties. After this announcement, many improved potato varieties have come to the country and have been registered. Cultivation of these exportable varieties is creating a huge opportunity for potato export.
Sia Khado, the top official of the Japanese company, said that samples of Valencia variety potatoes from Bangladesh have been tested in the Japanese laboratory. He told the Agriculture Minister that this type of potato is of good quality and tasty.
Declaring potato as an unregulated crop is a landmark move by the current government. In this context, ACI Seed has registered ACI Alu-10 (Valencia) potato seed in 2020, which is imported from the Netherlands. The variety has about 21 percent dry matter. Hence, it is useful in industry.
