BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 24
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Georgia has great potential to fully satisfy the demand for potatoes in the local market and become an exporter of the product to neighboring countries, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia Yuri Nozadze said, Trend reports citing Georgian media outlets.
According to Nosadze, one of the challenges facing the country on this path is the production of seed potatoes.
“Recently, positive steps have been taken in the development of potato growing, but problems still remain. For Georgia, this is the lack of promising new varieties, the lack of new technologies and the low competence of farmers. The Research Center of the Ministry of Science and the International Potato Center, which has existed for more than ten years, are working to solve these problems,” Nozadze said.
According to the deputy minister, the soil and climatic conditions of Georgia allow the country to produce high-quality seed potatoes, and special attention is paid to their certification.
Nosadze added that the ministry is actively involved in the certification process to enable farmers to increase production.
The country produces about 220,000 tons of potatoes per year, and the right approach, the yield of potatoes can be doubled, said the deputy minister.
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