Potato to boost Pakistan vegetable export

Published Feb 9, 2023

Tridge summary

Pakistan has experienced a significant increase in vegetable exports, with a 90 percent rise in quantity and 57 percent rise in value in the first four months of the current fiscal year, primarily due to increased potato shipments. This surge is attributed to a larger potato production in the country, especially after flooding damaged onion crops. However, the potato export industry faces challenges, including high production costs and reliance on imported seeds. The Potato Research Institute Sahiwal is working on developing local potato varieties to reduce these costs and expand the market, with potential growth in exports to China.

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Original content

During the first four months of the current fiscal year, overall vegetable exports of Pakistan swelled by 90 percent in quantity and 57pc in value thanks to brisk potato shipments. "Vegetables were exported every year depending on their availability but potato and onion hold a big share. A bumper potato crop has proved highly helpful in offsetting the falling exports of onion," said Waheed Ahmed, Patron in Chief of All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA). Last year, floods in Sindh and Balochistan have devastated onion crops, while Pakistan's potato production soared to 7.937m tons in FY22 from 5.873m tons in FY21, up by 35pc as floods did not hit Punjab which is a hub of potato production However, the industry is still facing a lot of challenges. "Potato is not a crop for poor people because its initial cost of production is high. 35-40% of the cost goes to seeds," said Syed Ijaz ul Hassan, director of Potato Research Institute ...

Source: Argenpapa