Uzbekistan worries about nematode threat in potatoes from Pakistan and Iran

As EastFruit has repeatedly reported, it will be difficult for Uzbekistan to cope with providing the local population with potatoes in 2021/22. Despite serious government efforts to reduce dependence on potato imports into the country, imports continue to break records every year. We analyzed this situation in detail at the beginning of this year, explaining why Uzbekistan is unlikely to be able to significantly reduce the relatively high domestic prices for potatoes. However, the situation began to worsen after Russia and Belarus, in addition to reducing the area under potatoes, also faced the problem of unfavorable weather conditions for their cultivation. This led to a sharp increase in prices for potatoes during the period of its harvesting and an increase in its imports both in Russia and Belarus. Since Russia is usually one of the main suppliers of potatoes to Uzbekistan, Uzbek traders quickly turned their attention to potato imports from Iran and Pakistan. Where they found ...