OKARA, April 30: Potato growers in the district are facing financial worries as the bumper crop is fetching low rates and the government is indifferent to the situation, according to growers.“This apathy of the government will make the growers lose interest in the agriculture sector which will deal a blow to the country’s economy,” Farmers Associate Pakistan director Dr Syed Afzaal Rizvi told Dawn. Together with him were potato growers, Chaudhry Muhammad Maqsood Jatt and Mian Muhammad Siddique.

They said Punjab produced 70 per cent of the country’s potato production and Okara, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Sialkot, Jhang, Faisalabad, Toba Tek Singh and Khanewal districts were major contributors; Okara alone produced more than 25 per cent of the total quantity.

According to estimates, around 2.12 million ton potato has been produced in 2006-07 compared to the previous season’s figure of 1.56 million ton. Pakistan annually needed 1.5 million ton of it and this year it had a surplus of 60,000 ton, they said.

This year potato had been exported to Iran, Sri Lanka and Malaysia at the start of yield which helped the potato growers’ cause but currently the potato was fetching just Rs450 to Rs550 for a 100 to 120 kilogram bag which was less then the input cost and, thus, causing loss to the growers, they said.

The growers demanded that the government should take stock of the situation and manage further export out of the surplus stock to save the growers from financial difficulties. A large quantity of potato yield was still lying in the fields, they added.

If the situation persisted, the rates would further go down even for the stocks in the cold storage. Those running the cold storages would also be in a difficult position as the investors would be unable to pay the rents.

The government, they stressed, must turn to potato seed production through tissue culture laboratories as such facilities in the Netherlands, Germany, Australia and even neighbouring India had been earning heavy foreign exchanges by preparing potato seeds. Pakistan could be a natural producer of potato seed for having conducive weather conditions and could earn a lot, they suggested, also emphasising the need for public-private investment to achieve the goal.

The United Nations Organisation (UNO) had decided to observe 2008 as potato year and the National Agriculture Research Council here could play a significant role to promote the country’s image on the occasion.