Amid shortage: Stop import of Indian potatoes

LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Punjab chapter president Manzoor Wattoo on Thursday asked the government not to import potatoes from India. “The import will hurt local growers,” he said in a statement. “The import will benefit Indian farmers at the expense of Pakistani growers.” “Had the government allowed the export after fulfilling domestic needs, the situation would have been different,” he said. He said local farmers produced potatoes using expensive inputs. He said the export of potatoes to Russia had resulted in a shortage in Pakistan. Wattoo said Indian farmers get free water and electricity and fertiliser and tractors on subsidised rates. “Pakistani growers do not get such subsidies. They, therefore, cannot compete with Indian farmers,” he said. He said the PPP government had given several incentives to farmers but the current government had withdrawn a Rs2 subsidy on running tube wells.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2014.