Sri Lankan Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera has advised the Agriculture Secretary MrGunadasa Samarasinghe to immediately take steps to increase the activities of the Nuwara Eliya, Sita Eliya and Kahagolla, Diyatalawa seed potato farms in order to produce the full amount of potatoes required by the nation.
The recently opened French fry manufacturing factory in Kahattewela requires a large quantity of potatoes daily. Also, 225,000 tons of potatoes are required annually for personal consumption. However, currently the potato production in the country is 33,018 tons and the entire remaining quantity has to be imported.
Currently, the price of seed potatoes has also increased making the farmers more destitute, the Minister explained. Considering these facts, in order to increase the yield of potatoes, the required amount of seed potatoes have to be produced in the country. The initial seed potato processing has been increased to 3 million and thus 3000 MT of seed potatoes can be processed. It is 24% of the total national requirement.
Source: colombopage.com
