The Zimbabwean government is pulling out all stops to localize seed potato production and put paid to imports of the commodity that are bleeding the economy. In effect the country is moving to consolidate the 2010 ban on table and processing potato imports.
Permanent secretary Dr John Basera from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development said recently: "There is an increase in potato seed imports, only for now, while we are working on localizing potato seed production towards a 100 percent import substitution scenario. "We have since closed our borders on table and processing potato import.”
Dr Basera's comments reinforce the sentiments he made during the launch of the Potato Value Chain Financing Facility (PVCFF) in Norton last year when he said the country's number one export strategy was import substitution. Statistics from Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats) show that fresh or chilled potato imports increased 392 percent from US$2,6 million in 2019 to US$12,9 million in 2022. Increased potato seed imports seem to be militating against Government's decision to ban table potato imports with the objective of protecting local farmers from unfair competition from cheap products that had flooded the local market.
Source: herald.co.zw
