Local potato-growers are afraid that they may not get expected yields and fair prices because of adverse weather conditions, such unseasonal rain and dense fog, affecting cultivation this season.

Potato cultivation was gaining momentum as farmers got fair prices and good yields in all the seven upazilas of Bhola district earlier. Of late, potato cultivation has suffered a serious decline following a drastic fall in prices.

Sources in the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said a total of 4,805 hectares of land had been brought under potato cultivation this year with a production target of 117,000 metric tons.

But three days of heavy rain last month damaged about 1,000 hectares of potato.

During a visit to Char Annada village of Sadar upazila, where potatoes are grown on a large scale every year, Abdul Baraque and Jasim Uddin, two potato farmers, told this correspondent that they had to sow potato seeds for a second time as the first ones had been damaged by rain. Another farmer, Faroque, said potato cultivation was profitable, but a fall in market prices resulted in farmers incurring huge losses for the last two years.

In the current season, farmers feel frustrated as large areas of potato land have been affected by fungal attacks in Charfassion, Borhan uddin, and Sadar upazila. During a visit to Char Ilisha village, a potato-growing area in Sadar Upazila, farmers were seen spraying fungicide on their fields

Potato farmer Mofiz said that owing to cold and dense fog, potato plants were affected by a fungal disease. He also said they were spraying fungicide as per the advice of the agriculture department. Milon Chandra Dey, sub-assistant agriculture officer of Bhola Sadar, said they regularly visited the fields and advised farmers to control the fungal disease.