Bid to increase potato production

GOVERNMENT’S plan to increase potato production and reduce imports has not materialised, says Agriculture Minister Dr Mahendra Reddy.

Speaking to farmers in Nadala Village, Nadarivatu, this week, he said Government could not continue providing seedlings and farmers interested in continuing would have to source their own.

“We have been promoting potato farming here for some time and it hasn't taken off,” he said.

“We have been getting seeds from overseas for some time and the program has not quite taken off. “It is not sustainable. “We can’t be supporting potato farming by importing seeds from overseas every year.”

Dr Reddy said Government had provided the necessary equipment to store the spuds and he called on farmers to sell their crops directly to the ministry instead of finding their own markets.

“You will have to produce your own seeds. We have a cooler here to store these seedlings.

“So the strategy for this program going forward is we want the farmer to produce their own potato seedlings.

“The second strategy is we don’t want the farmer to go to Tavua, Rakiraki or Ba and Lautoka to sell the potatoes.

“We want them to concentrate solely on being a commercial farmer and we will buy the potato from Nadarivatu.”

Fiji imports more than $23 million tonnes of potatoes at a cost of more than $22m annually.