Contest : Year-round storage methods for perishable products

Our country is Bangladesh. And Bangladesh is an agricultural country. About 80 percent of the people of this country are directly involved in agriculture. In our country, there are many crops that are produced in all seasons of the year, and there are some crops that are cultivated only once a year. Among them is potato. The main vegetable of Bangladesh is potato. Huge quantities of potatoes are cultivated in almost every region of Bangladesh. In addition, the national fruit of Bangladesh, kathal, is also produced only once a year. Kathal is the national fruit of Bangladesh. It is harvested in the month of May of the year.

A large amount of potatoes is cultivated in Bangladesh every year. And so much potatoes are cultivated that it meets the country's annual potato demand. Since potatoes are cultivated once a year, it is very important to preserve them. Therefore, large cold storages have been built in every district of the country to preserve potatoes. Here, farmers can store their required potatoes and store the remaining potatoes in the cold storage and eat them throughout the year and can also sell them in the market. Moreover, potatoes kept in the open at home are good for 1 month. And although our national fruit, jackfruit, is produced once a year, there is no process to preserve this fruit throughout the year. Because jackfruit cannot be preserved for a long time. Therefore, although potatoes can be preserved throughout the year, jackfruit cannot be preserved throughout the year.

There are many cold storages in Bangladesh where potatoes and other essential crops can be stored. The government of our country fixes the rent for storing crops in cold storages, due to which the cold storage owners cannot charge extra rent. Earlier, the cost of storing potatoes per kg in cold storages in Bangladesh was about 4 taka, which is equal to about 4.5 steem. Which was very good for the farmers. But this year, compared to last year, there has been a lot of potato production in Bangladesh, due to which the cold storage owners have increased the price as much as they want. This year, the cost of storing potatoes per kg in cold storage will be 7-8 taka, which is equal to about 2.57-2.25 steem. In this way, the farmers fill sacks after sacks of potatoes in the cold storage. The government takes appropriate measures to store these crops. The government conducts surveys in all the big cold storages of the country and takes stock of the situation so that no one can charge extra money. However, even though the cold storage owners have increased the rent this year, the government of our country has not been able to play any role here.

Last year, the price of potatoes was the highest in the history of Bangladesh. So, many farmers cultivated potatoes this year in the hope of making more profit. And because of cultivating so much potatoes, there was not enough space in the cold storages to store such a huge amount of potatoes. So, those who had stored potatoes earlier or booked through agents were able to store them. Those who went to store them later are facing problems. This year, we also cultivated potatoes. But while storing potatoes, I checked the cold storage and found that the potatoes had finished and would not be taken. Suddenly one night, my father found out that the last day to collect potatoes was that day. So my father took all the sacks of potatoes in a car. But seeing the crowd of people's potato carts on the entire road in front of the cold storage, my father returned with the potatoes. Later, however, at the behest of my cousin's uncle, our father-in-law, we were able to store our potatoes in another cold storage.