Afghan Agriculture Ministry builds 500 additional potato storages in Bamyan

The Afghan Ministry of Agriculture has funded construction of over 500 potato storages for farmers in Bamyan province.

Built at a cost of about 240mn Afghanis (3.6 million USD), the storages have a total capacity of over 10,000 tons.

Bamyan is known for its potatoes all over Afghanistan, and the province meets most of the local demand for potatoes.

This year, farmers in districts of Shibar, Yakawlang, Punjab, Waras and central Bamyan have benefited from 490 small storages, each with a capacity of 15-19 tons, and 24 big storages, each with a capacity of 45 tons.

“The agriculture department has provided me with a storage that can store 19 tons of potatoes. This will help me store my produce until start of spring,” said a farmer from central Bamyan.

According to provincial agriculture director Eng. Mohammad Tahir Ataye, over 2,000 potato storages with a capacity of about 50,000 tons have been built in Bamyan. He added The storages are provided to the farmers at free of cost and have been established in areas where potato production is high.

Ataye further added that the province needs storages for over 200,000 tons of potatoes to help meet the local demands for potatoes all across Afghanistan.