Venezuela’s potato production down 71% because of lack of seed and fertilizer

Venezuela’s potato production has been severely affected this year by a lack of seed and fertilizers. In the first 3 months of 2018, the number of hectares planted did not reach 3,500 hectares in the country, a much smaller number compared to the same period last year. Potato producers planted 12,000 hectares between January and March during 2017. This means there has been a 71% drop in the hectares planted. Gerson Pabon, the general director of Fedeagro, said potato seed was insignificant and that they hadn’t been certified by Agropatria or any other company since 2014 because the State had not awarded them more foreign currency. “All we have is the little seed that is bought in Colombia. In addition, no fertilizers have been purchased. That’s why producers did not plant enough and can’t risk doing it anyway,” he said. More