The Punjab agriculture minister has made it clear that there is no duty on the export of potatoes and his government is willing to help potato exporters. Farrukh Javed's announcement came at a high-level meeting of the Punjab Agriculture Department on Friday which reviewed the current potato crop situation.
He said, "A bumper potato crop is expected, and we are planning to export at least 300,000 tonnes potato this year. A record 3.84 million tonnes of potatoes were produced last year. The crop condition is also better and whether conditions are favourable, a healthy production is expected this year as well, provided of course the crop succeeds to avoid damaging effect from frost during the current month."
The minister also told his audience, "Potatoes have been cultivated over 400,000 acres this year which is 3.5 percent higher than that of last year. The per capita overall consumption is 14.28 kilogram per annum and considering the maximum population of Pakistan to be 180 million, the overall consumption will be 2.57 million tonnes."
He went on, "In addition, another 500,000 tonnes will be required for the next year seed. Considering the average production of the past five years at 3.36 million tonnes [95 percent] in the Punjab, there will still be a surplus of at least 300,000 tonnes in the Punjab which should be exported. We are planning to export at least 300,000 tonnes at the moment to benefit the farmer positively.
"A fresh crop of potatoes is being prepared for harvesting, and we are keenly monitoring the situation for the timely export of additional production. Our prime objective is that the growers get maximum benefit of their hard work and a better price can be offered to them.
"We will not let the middlemen interfere and farmers' share will be given to farmers only. He said Pakistan exported around 250,000 tonnes of potatoes last year and we are expecting a bigger volume of export this year." He then urged a watchful eye on potato crops and the Agriculture Department Extension Wing to train cultivators to save their crops from frost.
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