Twelfth International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

At present potato consumption in developing countries is increasing day by day as it’s the best alternative by providing the same nutrition as rice. Farmers of Bangladesh are producing about 10216 thousand metric tons of potato from 1235 thousand acres of land to earn more profit than rice. However, in recent years, this crop production is severely affected by the variability of climatic factors. Farmers also faced the problem of price fluctuation in harvesting season due to bumper production and lack of proper storage system. Considering these situations the present research was undertaken to examine the extent of cost and net income variation for potato and to check the impact of climate change on potato production in the North Eastern part of Bangladesh. To grasp the diversity of income due to climate change, this study decomposed the variance of net income into different factors. The study results showed that climatic variation influenced potato production and pushed the price to fluctuate in the harvesting season. Gross income difference also existed among the farmers due to fertilizer and seed cost variation. Considerable part (73%) of net income variation was explained by gross income. It implied that “potato yield” or “potato price (quality)” or both vary widely among farmers. The study will help to make a linkage between the farm income and the potential impact of climate change on potato production. Therefore, understanding the causes of cost and income variation would be an effective and fruitful strategy to support the potato farmers.