Potatoes Worth Three Crore Taka Rot in Madaripur Cold Storage

Abul Hasan Sohel, from Madaripur

A Bengali proverb warns against losing everything while chasing more. This is exactly what happened at a cold storage facility in Madaripur. Potatoes worth nearly three crore taka have rotted at the Madaripur BSCIC Industrial Estate cold storage. The owner had stored these potatoes for a long time hoping for higher profits. Workers now distribute these rotted potatoes free of charge as cattle feed. Cold storage authorities say the potatoes rotted because they stayed in storage far longer than recommended.

Cold storage facilities typically preserve potato quality for up to 10 months from the storage season. However, owner Mr. Mir Habibur Rahman stored 20 thousand sacks of potatoes, each holding 60 kilograms, at his own Madaripur cold storage facility, hoping for higher market profits.

These sacks sat in storage from March 2025 through September 2026 as he waited for a favorable price that never came. During this time, the potatoes inside the sacks lost quality and began giving off a foul smell.

Authorities have distributed these potatoes to locals as cattle feed for the past two days out of necessity. Madaripur potato wholesalers have meanwhile bought potatoes from other districts to meet local market demand during this long storage period. This has raised their procurement costs. These wholesalers have called for an end to such long term potato hoarding.

Madaripur vegetable wholesaler Mr. Khabiruddin said the storage owner caused this rot himself. He said the owner could have sold the potatoes while they remained fresh, which would have reduced the amount of spoiled potatoes wholesalers now truck in from distant districts. He said the owner stored the potatoes hoping for greater profit and now bears the full loss instead.

Several other potato traders echoed similar views. Local residents who came to collect the spoiled potatoes said people cannot eat these potatoes anymore. They said they came only to pick out whatever edible potatoes remained, to feed their cattle. People from various areas arrived at the cold storage for the same purpose, all seeking potatoes for their livestock.

Madaripur Cold Storage Manager Mr. Abdul Karim said the facility stored these potatoes in March 2025. He said the extended storage period damaged the potatoes’ temperature control and quality. He said the facility could not dispose of the potatoes in open areas due to the risk of public nuisance, so it decided instead to distribute them free to farmers and livestock owners.

He added that the 20 thousand spoiled sacks contain about 30 thousand maunds of potatoes. He estimated their current market value at nearly three crore taka.

Potato and cold storage owner Mr. Habibur Rahman said he still does not know exactly why the potatoes rotted. He initially suspects a mechanical fault inside the cold storage facility. He plans to bring in experts from Dhaka to confirm this cause.

Madaripur Agricultural Marketing Officer Mr. Rubel Mia said he will inspect the Madaripur cold storage facility. He said he will also investigate why the potatoes remained in storage for such an extended period.