Nigde Potato Research Institute has registered 3 new varieties of potato. The new varieties have been named ‘Nahita’, ‘Unlenen’ and ‘Nam’. Ugur Pirlak, the manager of the institute, said they registered the first species of native potatoes in April last year, “We are carrying out a project to eliminate the dependence on foreign seed potatoes,” he said. Pirlak underlined the importance of potatoes for feeding the growing world population, he added that the commodity is also one of Turkey’s most widely produced agricultural products. According to him there are 183 varieties of potato registered in Turkey.
“However all of the cultivated varieties of potato are imported from abroad. This situation leads to millions of dollars leaving the country each year. In order to eliminate the dependence on external seed potatoes, TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) is funding a Territorial Seed Potato Production System project to develop native varieties. We registered the first two native varieties for the first time on April 1, 2015 as a result of this study. Now we have registered 3 more varieties, the Nahita, Unlenen and Nam.” Pirlak says they also plan to register 3 more varieties next year. Source: hurriyet.com
