• Society

Grow Potatoes, Mondulkiri Farmers Urged

• By Heng Sreylin
• and Phoung Vantha
• March 28, 2022 6:27 PM

High prices and demand prompt expansion plea

PHNOM PENH – Mondulkiri farmers have been urged to increase potato cultivation because the northeastern province has a climate suitable for the crop.

Provincial Department of Agriculture Department director Song Kheang said there is good market demand and high price for the crop but few growers.

"There are very few provinces where they can be planted and there are not many farmers who grow them yet. They should expand their cultivation," he said.

Mondulkiri supplies only 20 to 25 percent of the potato market.

Kheang encouraged farmers in the province to increase the cultivation of potatoes to meet market demand, reduce imports and  promote agricultural products in Mondulkiri.

Kry Meng Chheang, the first farmer to grow potatoes in the province’s Sen Monorom district, says he cannot meet the demand.

The cold weather in Mondulkiri is most conducive to potatoes, but not many farmers grow them.

"Every year, I can harvest more than 20 tonnes of potatoes from a hectare of land, selling them at 6,000 riel per kilogram," he said.

"Potatoes have a good market and are relatively expensive compared with other crops," he said. At every harvest, the buyer took them all. Sometimes he could not supply as much as the buyer wanted.

He said most of his potatoes and other crops such as garlic, onion, carrot and cabbage, are exported to Phnom Penh, followed by Kampong Cham, Battambang and Siem Reap.

Potatoes take more than three months to be harvested, and this type of tuber needs more care than other crops because it must be protected from fungal diseases, he said. Yields also fell when there was heavy rain.

A farmer who has been growing potatoes for almost five years said he's happy because this business can support a better life for his family. He plans to expand cultivation.

Phin Phorn, who grows potatoes in Doh Kramom village, said he took part in planting trials in 2020 after the department provided seeds and taught cultivation. He is now preparing to increase potato cultivation.

"Although potatoes are harvested quickly just in three months, we need to protect them from fungal and bacterial diseases to obtain high yields, he said.

He plants other crops, including garlic and cabbage, and harvests the potatoes in February. He sells to a buyer in Mondulkiri. Some potatoes are sold to the Green Gold company and to other provinces. " A kilo sells for 8,000 to 10,000 riel.

A report by Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon said the first potato planting test​​ was in Mondulkiri province in 2019 with a yield of about 18 tonnes on one hectare, which could earn $15,000 to $17,000.

The ministry provided potato seeds to five farmers for the trial. After its success, the provincial department established a potato growing association with 20 families to increase cultivation.

Previously, Cambodia imported more than 5,000 tonnes of potatoes a year.