With Sri Lanka slapping import duty and the Central Asian market not importing because of its own good crop, these are trouble times for Pakistani potato.
The competition for potato markets has also become intense with Bangladesh joining the list of exporters and Sri Lanka encouraging and protecting its own farmers with a duty of 30 per cent.
India has always been a major player and is expanding potato production and role, both internationally and regionally.
The situation must be a cause of concern for Pakistan particularly Punjab – producer of 90 per cent crop. Farmers here sow the crop on around half a million acres to make some good money on export.
Last year was particularly good for them as the crop in Central Asian states went bad and the gap was met by Pakistani farmers and exporters. With the hope of repeating the feast, they went for additional acreage and produced even more this year. With international crop turning out to be better than what local farmers had anticipated, the entire produce is now stuck – leading to a price crash in domestic market.
This year farmers have suffered on two accounts: frost and fungus damages lowering the yield, increasing cost of production and now exports slowing down to almost a halt.. Against 3,500 containers sent to Russia last year, only 500 have gone so far.
Major problem for Pakistani potato is non-availability of any internationally acceptable seed. Most of the farmers have to use imported seed either from Holland or India for maintaining quality and quantity of their produce. This import makes potato growing a highly expensive business.
On the seed head alone, farmers have to invest over Rs120,000 per acre if import is from Holland and around Rs90,000 per acre in case seed is from India. With such a heavy investment on this head alone, a slightest damage to yield hurts farmer beyond redemption.
This is exactly what happened this year. Both early and late blight hit the crop. The disease started from Soan valley and quickly spread to adjoining to Khushaab, and down to Chinot, Khanewal and Kasur – right into the heart of potato growing belt.
The second crisis that hit the crop was when farm temperature fell well below freezing point in late December and January and frost caused wilting of branches, keeping size of potato small and terminating the crop early.
Both these factors took the cost of production to well over Rs13 per kg for most of farmers in central Punjab. The sale price for farmers in the area is still around Rs7 per kg – a straight loss of Rs6 per kg. In cities, however, price has been Rs25 per kg, or more. Thus, the money that is being made on the crop is made by traders or retailers and not the farmers.
As argued earlier, the entire crisis stems from the absence of high yield local seed, creating dependence on imported seed and increasing baseline cost of production in the province. Weather vagaries only add to the problem occasionally. That is also precisely the point where the Punjab government can start its potato planning – develop a good high yielding local seed. The other three contours of the policy can be balancing fertiliser application, ensuring quality and finding new markets.
The current yield, which is less than half of world standards and 30 to 40 per cent less than even India, simply renders the entire crop less competitive in any market of the world. Even this year, only those farmers have survived financially who had sown some high-yielding imported varieties. Those using local varieties have faced a big financial loss. Thus, the yield would be a crucial test for next developed variety.
Equally important would be keeping seed in access of farmers and saving it from usual mafia that makes life difficult for everyone in the sector. The seed not only has to be high yielding but also protected against common diseases. Potatoes are susceptible to almost entire range of fungus, rust and blight. So, it is crucial for farmers to use seed treated against diseases.
The Punjab government needs to ensure application of balanced fertiliser, because it is crucial for short duration crops like potato. It needs a good doze of phosphorus, potash and nitrogen. The world, even India, has moved beyond normal fertilisers and gone to growth and hormones regulators for potatoes. In India, farmers reportedly apply seven bags of urea and four of DAP to every acre of potatoes. Against this, Pakistani farmers have not been able to use even one bag of fertiliser because of price factor. Pakistan needs to move in the direction the world is moving.
Fortunately, most of the crop is sown in a few districts of central Punjab, where it would be easier for the extension workers (official or private) to educate farmers in agronomical practices. Quality and grading remain crucial for international and regional competitiveness.
One of the reasons for sliding export to Russia this year is also the size of potato. The Russian demand bigger size potato whereas frost has reduced the size of Pakistani potato and there is no grading system to sift potatoes in size.
These are not big problems, and are solvable with little effort and planning, but certainly need a strong political commitment to plan and pursue the effort.