While chips are beloved snacks among children and teens, many of us are unaware of where and how they reach our mouths
Published : 02 Jul 2025, 12:37 PM
Despite their health implications, potato chips are a beloved snack among children and teenagers. During tiffin, after school, at tea, or in the middle of a late-night study session, the crispy, salty treats provide a burst of flavour.
While we eat many potato chips, do we actually think about where they come from?
But it’s not just your bag of chips. The humble potato is the building block for other well-loved foods like French fries, mashed potatoes, and the delightfully spiced potatoes in our Bengali style of biriyani.
Potatoes, like many popular fruits and vegetables – such as corn, pineapples, tomatoes, cashew nuts, and chilli peppers – originate in North and South America.
They were first introduced to Bangladesh through the Columbian exchange – the widespread transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between the Americas and Europe, Asia, and Africa after Christopher Columbus’s historic voyage.
Now, the potato is an integral part of Bangladesh’s agriculture, cuisine, and even culture. To feed our demand requires the regular and committed work of many, many people.
The Bangladesh Cold Storage Association (BCSA) estimates that potato production in the country will reach 12 million metric tonnes in 2025. This makes it a major crop in our agricultural output and puts Bangladesh on the map as a significant producer of potatoes in Asia.
When the seeds are planted, farmers in Bangladesh typically expect to harvest around 21 tonnes of the root vegetables per hectare.
Rangpur is the top potato-producing division in Bangladesh, with large amounts of the crop being grown in Alutari, Ranipukur, Mahigonj, and Khashbagh.
Potato cultivation is usually done in the winter, with the harvest season falling between January and March.
But, once harvested, this crop has to sustain people throughout the year. This is where cold storage comes in.
The vegetables are piled into a large refrigerated room where they can be kept fresh at a lower temperature throughout the year. Cultivated potatoes are brought to cold storage from March to December.
Cold storage facilities themselves employ dozens of workers, with about 30 to 40 people carrying sacks of potatoes into the refrigerated rooms, while another 40 to 50 people organisee, stack and arrange them.
These potatoes are sorted through two different processes – the general process and the CIPC system.
In the general process some 74,000 sacks, each weighing about 60kg, are put into cold storage at temperatures between 35-36 degrees Fahrenheit.
Under the CIPC system, another 70,000 sacks, each weighing about 50 kg, are kept in a sugar-free system at a maintained temperature of about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
The potatoes are distributed from these cold storage facilities to factories and markets from June to December.
They go all across the country – to Dhaka, Chattogram, Faridupur and Noakhali.
And some end up at the potato chips factories in Thakurgaon and Dinajpur.
So, the next time you’re munching away on a potato chip, take some time to appreciate the hard work and extensive history that went into putting that crunchy delight in your mouth.
Reporter: Samiha Mehbub Hiya
District: Rangpur
Age: 17
