The potato harvest will be excellent this year in Mauritius

According to the Agricultural Marketing Board (AMB), the potato harvest will be excellent this year and is expected to reach 19,000 tonnes.
Some 2,500 tonnes of seeds were sowed this season and should yield an additional 100 tonnes of potatoes compared to last year.

Jean Pierre Rouillard, general manager of Copesud at Britannia, said that the company produces a new variety of potato known as the Chair Ferme. “This is a full flavoured small potato,” he said. Rouillard stressed that Copesud was forecasting a production of 6,500 tonnes this year and 7,500 tonnes next year.

A few years ago, a potato boost scheme was introduced to restrict local import. Farmers received 80 per cent credit on purchased seeds. It was only after the harvest that they had to repay the AMB.

The farmers who engaged in the cultivation of potatoes received financial facilities for the purchase of seeds through the Food Security Fund.
Last year, Mauritius imported 11,000 tonnes of potatoes but with a boost in local production, this figure has gone down to 7,000 tonnes. The annual consumption of potatoes is around 24,000 tonnes and local production is between 18,000 and 19,000 tonnes.

The country needs 2,300 tonnes of potato seed, but only about 560 tonnes are produced in Mauritius and the rest has to be imported from India and South Africa.