The government has formed an eleven-member committee to restart potato exports to Russia preventing bacteria.
After detection of Brown Ring Rot bacteria in potatoes, the Russian authorities recently imposed embargo on import of potatoes into their market.
The Russian authorities said the potato exporters of all countries must have phytosanitary certificate to get access to the market.
After the decision, the Bangladeshi government has taken a number of action plans to regain the access.
Under the plans, the committee has been formed, which will monitor potato farming in different areas of Bangladesh to make sure that potato produced there is free of the bacteria and can be exported.
“We have already taken several action plans for prevention of bacteria in potato cultivation, including selection of farmland for farmers by the government agencies,” an official said.
An inter-ministerial meeting held recently decided to execute action plans within September 25 to resume the export.
The meeting was presided over by Agriculture Secretary Nazmul Islam.
The meeting also talked about an allegation that unscrupulous businessmen of India and Pakistan export Bangladeshi potatoes to Russian market. They first import the crop from Bangladesh and then export.
The committee would advice the agricultural ministry on ways to prevent the bacteria during production of potato.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said the Russian government has shown an interest to import 1 lakh tonnes of potatoes from Bangladesh.
He also said: “To resolve the bacteria issue, we have talked to the scientists, and hope it will be settled soon.”
The phytosanitary certification is used to attest the consignments meeting phytosanitary requirements and is undertaken by a national plant protection organisation.
The certificate for export or re-export can be issued only by a public officer who is technically qualified and duly authorised by the organisation.
The demand for potatoes has risen as the production in Europe has fallen by about 15% this year due to drought, said Shaikh Abdul Quader, president of Bangladesh Potato Exporters Association.
Russia has a demand of 26m tonnes of potato annually with a shortage of 5m tonnes.
The seed wing of the Department of Agricultural Extension will select cultivable land for production of potatoes in some selected districts under the supervision of the committee.
The selected areas include Rajbari, Dhaka, Tangail, Meherpur, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Kurigram, Sherpur, Kishoreganj and Munshiganj.
Bangladesh annually exports around 1 lakh tonnes of potatoes to different countries including Russia.
