Aeroponic production of potato seed begins.

ISLAMABAD -- PakAistan's dependence on imported potato seed is now set to substantially reduce with the application of aeroponics technology introduced in the country with the assistance of South Korea, as the second crop of potato seed is now ready to be harvested at the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) in Islamabad.

The aeroponic potato seed production system will help achieve higher productivity, reduce post-harvest losses, initiate farm level processing, human resource development and create immense job opportunities, agricultural scientists told reporters in Islamabad.

In Pakistan, potato seed is mostly imported from Holland which is not only costly but also the above fifth generation which negatively affects potato productivity. On an average, the country spends around Rs3 billion on importing 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes of potato seed.

Potato is one of the major cash crop of the country and during 2022 it was cultivated on an area of 313,000 hectares with a total production of 79,37,000 tonnes.

According to Dr Ghulam Muhammad Ali, Chairman of Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, aeroponics offer the potential to improve production and reduce costs compared to conventional methods or to other soilless methods.

He said that over 30 per cent of the seed requirement could be met from tissue culture labs already operating at NARC, and private sector involvement in seed production is crucial due to its potential for business growth.

To cope with the problem of shortage for the good potato seed locally, the aeroponic technology is the ultimate solution to rapidly multiply and disseminate healthy seeds to the country's resource-poor farmers, according to agricultural scientists working on the project. The project has been jointly launched by PARC and the Korea Programme on International Agriculture (Kopia).

Kopia Project Director Dr Cho Gyoung-Rae, while explaining features of the project, provided an update on the progress of the potato seed production, and said the project aimed to establish additional greenhouses at NARC to produce 400,000 nucleus seed potatoes.

These seeds will then be multiplied in 35 greenhouses, resulting...