Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - It has been reported that since the announcement of quarantine in Uzbekistan, systematic work has been carried out to meet the needs of the population for food.

Nevertheless, social networks say that the demand for potatoes in Tashkent is growing, and in some places on the dekhkan markets there is a shortage of this product.

The relevant ministries and departments are taking intensive measures to continuously provide the country's population with basic types of food. Do not worry about this, the Ministry of Agriculture said.

The main factors that the potato shortage will not be - in numbers

- Such forecast indicators have been determined that in 2020 about 2.8 million tons of potatoes will be grown in the republic on 130 thousand hectares. 1.8 million tons will fully cover annual domestic consumption.

- In particular, starting from the last ten days of March, the southern regions of the country will begin to export early potato products to our domestic markets. From April 15, a large number of potatoes will arrive in our domestic markets, including about 70,000 tons in April and 85,000 tons in May.

- Potato deficiency (45-50 thousand tons) mainly occurs in March-April. During this period, domestic consumption is mainly satisfied by stocks and imports from abroad.

- For the winter-spring season 2019-2020. 181,000 tons of potatoes were stocked, to date 133,000 tons have been sold. On average, 1800 tons of potatoes are produced daily from warehouses. This is an average of 40 percent of daily consumer demand (4.5 thousand tons).

- In January-March 2020, 130,000 tons of potato products were imported from abroad, including more than 60,000 tons in March.

Import will continue until mass cultivation of potatoes begins in Uzbekistan

Due to the fact that in Uzbekistan January-April is the season when potatoes are not grown, in addition to potatoes in stock, the product is imported for consumption by the population. In January-March 2020, the country imported 130,000 tons of potato products from foreign countries, including from Russia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Belarus.

In order to ensure the continuity of potato imports, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan closely cooperates with the ministries of agriculture of the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan on issues of import and transit.

For reference, in 2019, 283,000 tons of consumer potatoes were imported from foreign countries.

If we take into account that according to medical standards per capita per year 52.6 kg of potatoes are produced, this product will fully satisfy the needs of the population of the republic.

During the quarantine period, stocks of vegetables and melons are stable

Despite the situation in the country, this did not have any effect on the cultivation of agricultural products by our local farmers. On the contrary, on the ground, special commissions act to accelerate this work and support our farmers.

In particular, in order to increase food production, based on various soil and climatic conditions of the country, organizational work was started with local authorities to specialize 66 areas for growing vegetables, 35 areas for growing melons and 36 areas for growing potatoes.

Forecast for the production of vegetables and gourds in the country in 2020

- Forecast indicators for the production of 11.9 million tons of vegetables, 2.5 million tons of melons and gourds, 2.9 million tons of potatoes were determined.

- for the 2020 harvest in August-September 2019, onions and garlic were planted using the “tucson” method, and in November-December, a total of 206.7 thousand hectares (including 81.4 thousand hectares of farms) vegetables, of which total complexity of 3.4 million tons (of which 1.5 million tons in farms), early vegetables are expected to be grown.

- it is envisaged that 602.9 thousand tons of products will be exported, 277.0 thousand tons for processing and 2.5 million tons for domestic consumption.

- in January-February of this year, from all categories of farms, crops were sown on film in a total of 15.6 thousand hectares, including vegetables on 10.0 thousand hectares, potatoes on 1.7 thousand hectares on 4.6 thousand hectares of melons.

- In the spring it was planned to plant vegetables, melons and potatoes on 89.4 thousand hectares of farm land, and sowing is in full swing.

One of the main reasons for the lack of potatoes in our markets is due to the fact that our citizens are unduly worried and, over and above their needs, are over-purchasing this product. And this leads to a natural shortage of potatoes exported daily to our markets.