Hard work of Nadarivatu farmers finally pays off

The hard work of Nadarivatu farmers have finally paid off after they harvested 800kg of potato seeds after importing 40 tonnes of seeds from Australia.

Ministry of Agriculture Principal Research Officer Shalendra Prasad says the seeds were harvested during the off season and will be used for planting during the main season as a pilot project for local seed activities.

Prasad says that these seeds will be stored in the diffuse house as they plan to build three more houses.

He says that potatoes are supplied to middle-men and local supermarkets and more importantly to consumers who take interest in the commodity.

Prasad says once the Agriculture sector is successful with local seed production, the imports of potato seeds from overseas will slowly decrease and there will be more concentration on locally produced seeds.