Turkey’s first domestically grown potato seeds will be offered to potato farmers in January 2016.
The project called “Turkey’s First National Potato Seed Production” is expected to alleviate the country’s dependence on foreign sources and to help the country save millions of dollars spent on foreign-grown potato seeds.
The first domestically grown potato seeds were registered earlier this year as a result of studies that had been conducted by Turkey’s Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry’s Potato Research Institute since 2005.
Statistical data suggests that Turkey imported around 19,000 tons of potato seeds at a cost of US$16.6 million from 16 countries in 2014. With the introduction of domestic potato seeds in 2016, farmers will be able to purchase potato seeds at much lower prices than they pay for imported seeds.
The new potato seed varieties are called Fatih and Onaran2015. Fatih is yellow potato used for making french fries, while Onaran2015 is light yellow table stock variety. The Turkish government plans to add four new kinds to the two registered potato seeds next year.
http://www.dailysabah.com/money/2015/10/13/domestically-grown-potato-seeds-to-be-used-next-year
