Pakistan : Export half a million tonnes of potato
A senior official of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research has advised the government to immediately take steps to export up to 500,000 tonnes of potato to prevent a price crash of the commodity on the domestic market.
A crash is likely due a high potato supply on the local market, just before the arrival of the new crop.
Potato requirements of the country are estimated to be around 3 million tonnes per annum. This year the country is expected to have a record production of over 3.7 million tons. An estimated 300,000 tonnes of the last year’s stocked potato has been offloaded to the wholesale market.
Potatoes are sold at Rs 6 to 9 per kg in the wholesale market. This will put pressure on the price of the fresh potato crop which is set to start coming to the market from mid-January and will continue till mid-April.
Last year potatoes were procured from farmers at the very low price of Rs 2 per kg but were sold for over Rs 30 per kg throughout the year. The official said traders plan to act similarly this year, but they were making efforts to export the surplus to Sri Lanka, Turkey and Russia.
We have recommended the government immediately initiate measures for potato exports as otherwise immense loss will be inflicted on the farmers by traders.
Experts are of the opinion that if the exports are not ensured in a timely manner, the farmers may not sow potato crop next year which will result in another crisis.
Pakistan lacked cold storage facilities in the past, but the rising exports of citrus have helped develop a good number of storages in the agriculture heartland. The same facility is now being utilised for the storage of vegetables and fruits.
(1 Indian Rupee= 0.015 USD)
Fuente: http://www.freshplaza.com/article/152233/
