Tajikistan

картошка

Year
2007
Production
718 300 tons
Harvested area
73 359 acres
Yield
9.8 tons/acre

Source: FAO

Potato may have reached Tajikistan through India or via traditional trade routes in Central Asia. Today, some potato types have been grown in Tajikistan's mountain valleys long enough to be considered "old local varieties".

The potato is essential to national food security: in 2007, the potato harvest - some 720 million tons - was greater than that of wheat, and potato consumption is more than 138 lb a year per person. Potato is grown primarily in highland areas at altitudes ranging from 2 600 to 6 000 feet, and destined for local markets.

Following independence in 1991, potato production fell more than 50 percent owing to viruses introduced with imported tubers. But between 1997 and 2003, after the country established disease-free seed potato production, both the area under potato and average yields nearly doubled.

Further details from CIP's World Potato Atlas