Ministry of Agriculture spends $1,500 on potato seeds

The Ministry of Agriculture has spent $1,500 to get 40 tonnes of potato seeds from Australia this year as the potato planting season has started from this month and will go on till October.

This has been confirmed by the Senior Agriculture Officer and National Coordinator for potato, Mohammed Kadir Khan who has stated that they also buy seeds from local farmers.

Under the potato Development Program a cold storage facility worth $26,000 was constructed last year to store seedlings and planting materials for farmers of Serua and Namosi province.

Khan stated that there was no damage to the potato farms during Tropical Cyclone Keni and Josie as the seedlings were safely stored in the cold storage facility.

Khan says potato seeds are stored for five months before it is re-planted and the storage facility is available to local farmers, growers and the Ministry to store planting materials and seedlings because potato planting is done after five months of harvesting.

He adds that 10 acres of potato will be planted in the Serua and Namosi province this year.

Khan says the government through the Ministry of Agriculture is aware of the huge import bill incurred on potato and on that basis the Potato Development Program was set up in 2010.

The places in Fiji that are currently practicing potato farming are Serua, Namosi, Nadroga, Navosa, Ba, Ra, Tailevu, Rewa, Naitasiri, Macuata, Bua, Dakaudrove, Levuka, Koro and Kadavu.