BAMIYAN (SW): Officials at the Bamiyan Department of Agriculture and Livestock said Bamiyan is the most suitable place for potato cultivation, and as a result, potato production has increased this year.
Abdul Wahab Mohammadi, Director of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in Bamiyan, said in a conversation with Salam Watandar, that more than 80 percent of Bamiyan population is engaged in agriculture and livestock, and the major products of this province are potatoes, wheat and fruits.
According to Mr. Mohammadi this year, farmers have harvested more than 350 thousand tons of potatoes from their lands, which last year was only 320 thousand tons.
According to reports, Bamiyan farmers’ interest in potato cultivation have also increased, and this crop is cultivated more in the districts of Kahmard, Saighan, Shibar, Yakawlang, and the capital of this province.
Qurban Ali, a Bamiyan farmer, said that he has cultivated 6 acres of land with potatoes this year, which produced more than 42 metric tons of potatoes (approx. 840 metric hundredweights).
Based on Bamiyan’s agriculture and livestock statistics, in the past 10 years, more than 2650 large and small storage facilities have been built for storage of potatoes in this province.
Mohammad Ishaq, an agriculture expert in Bamiyan, said Bamiyan’s weather is very cold during the fall and winter, and potatoes get damaged in the open air.
According to Mr. Ishaq, the government should build more storage facilities for agricultural products for these farmers.
Each year, Bamiyan supplies more than half the potatoes needed by residents of the country, and in 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, named the province as the center for production of improved and quality seed potatoes.
Although, Bamiyan’s potatoes have been popular, but due to the lack of cold storages and the destruction of roads, the merchants have been interested in importing potatoes from Pakistan and Iran.
ENDS
