The Deputy Minister of Agriculture in Venezuela, José Gregorio Aguilera, met with potato producers from the states of Lara, Mérida, Táchira, Carabobo and Aragua on Tuesday and told them that the government had authorized potato seed imports from Colombia and Canada to meet this sector’s needs.

Aldemaro Ortega, director of Fenaphort, said the government had made the best decision in order not to jeopardize planting cycles or the local supply of potato. He said it was important to accelerate the purchase of seeds required for the emergency zone – close to 50,000 bags (or 1,250 tons) – because the country’s production sequence could otherwise be broken, according to elinformador.com.ve.

José Suárez, president of Asopapa Lara, said they had to start working to gather the documentation required to obtain health permits and authorizations from all of the agencies involved in the import process. To approve the entry of seeds, he said, the government requires standard applications supported with field inspections and specific volumes, adjusted to Agropatria’s supervision. “They made this decision but recognized and made it clear that the state has no money.”

“The import measure needs to be immediate, as the potato crops in the area of Lara can only supply the needs of the domestic market for a month and a half. We have supply for up to six weeks. In previous years we could harvest potatoes all year, but that cycle ended because we didn’t get seeds. We only got 30% of what we required.”

There’s a dire need for 10,000 bags of seeds in Lara to cover 5,000 hectares and 25,000 bags of potato seeds in all states.

As a result of the low supply in the next six weeks, Suárez added, the price of potatoes could skyrocket to 2,000 bolívars per kilo.