CIP's main partner in Uzbekistan, the National University of Uzbekistan in Tashkent received a US$2.8 million grant from the Government to implement a seed potato multiplication project using the three CIP clones released in the past two years.

The three varieties, called Pskem, Sarnav and Serkhosil, are well adapted to local conditions of drought, heat and soil salinity.

The new program aims to produce 500,000 minitubers per year from in-vitro plantlets obtained in new labs to boost potato seed production in the country.

Other components involve planting seed potato in the mountains for further multiplication under disease-free conditions, building new screenhouses and storehouses, and providing seed farms with necessary farm equipment and machinery.