March 31, 2006	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 1, 1427

ISLAMABAD, March 30: The government has yet to come up with a concrete policy to arrest the decline in potato crop yield during the last two months which resulted in suspension of export of the commodity.

An official told Dawn on Thursday that due to a cold spell in January, the production of potatoes went down by almost 25 per cent, which was expected to decline further in the months ahead.

The decline in production will also create a shortage in the domestic market, which will result in an increase in prices of the commodity.

According to the official estimates, damage to the potato crop was about 25 per cent as against the earlier expectation of 19 per cent. The farmers of central Punjab, however, insisted that damage could go up to 35 to 40 per cent. They said no one from the government warned them about the cold spell.

The official statistics showed that exports had been stagnant at an average of 50,000 tons for the last five years, but the current decline in yield had halted exports completely.

Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Malaysia were the main export markets, with a share of 60 per cent, 21 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively.

It was estimated that exports to Sri Lanka could be increased by 75 per cent (an additional 15,000 tons), and Malaysia by 50 per cent (an additional 43,000 tons).

New markets to be identified include: Portugal, with a potential of 250,000 tons; Russia, with 45,000 tons; Czech Republic, with 75,000 tons; Romania, with 45,000 tons; Algeria, with 100,000 tons; Morocco, with 50,000 tons; and Tanzania, with a potential of 40,000 tons.

According to a report of the horticulture board, the autumn crop, which constituted 85 per cent of the national production, was the main supplier of exports. Thereafter, potatoes stored in cold storages become sweet due to increased sucrose content and was rendered unacceptable in the international market.

The report says the existing varieties sown in the country are also among the least preferred in the world market. In addition, non-reefer containers are used to ship potatoes, resulting in further lowering of quality.

According to the report, potato needed long-term marketing development strategy for fully exploiting its export potentials. It was recommended to have an early warning system to assess the crop size and introduce more varieties.

It has also been recommended to develop infrastructure — export/pack houses equipped with grading, packing and cold storage facilities; improved logistics, especially cold chain haulage — reefer containers; contract growing-grow for export; and diversification for instance, processed products like French fries and flakes and seed potatoes export.