FRESH POTATO,Pakistan price supplier

From around 3,000 Ha. At the time of independence, the area under production increased to around 107000 ha. During the same period the average yields rose from around 9 in 1947 to 20 MT per ha. Pakistan is self-sufficient in Potatoes for household consumption and relies for more than 99% on locally produced seed potatoes. Presently, it is estimated that the total annual domestic production amounts to around 1.8 Million MT, of which 280000 MT is used as seed and 1.8 Million MT is available for consumption after post harvest losses. With a population of roughly 132 Million, this accounts to 9.3 Kg per Capita per annum.

The recent large increase in acreage was reached by an intensification of the cultivation in existing potato growing areas, as well as by introduction of the crop in new areas and to inexperienced farmers. Hence, many problems, like diseases and pests, became more hazardous and a large number of farmers are lacking knowledge of the right cultivation technique. These include pests and disease control, land preparation and irrigation, fertilizer application, crop rotation and multi-cropping techniques. The lack of credit facilities to purchase inputs creates difficulties, in particular for small farmers, inhibiting their effort to raise productivity.

High quality costly seed forms another constraint. The seed contributes to about 35-40% of the total cost of production in Pakistan. Formal certified seed production is limited and faces technical, economical and managerial problems. Lack of availability of sufficient quantities of good seed and low purchasing power of the farmers, forces them to rely on seed sources of doubtful quality or own production, for which most of them do not have the proper skills.

Poor post harvest handling, including transport and storage practices, causes unnecessary damage and losses and reduction of consumption quality. Sufficient cold store space is available in Pakistan. The handling of potatoes in storage is unsatisfactory and poorly managed. Finally, the farmers and consumers are faced with serve cyclical fluctuations in price, as production moves from glut to shortage, so preventing the farmers from enjoying a reliable income and inhibiting the consumer from including potato as a regular staple part in his diet.