On March 30, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán visited the Uzbek-Hungarian Scientific Potato Research Center in the Yukorichirchik district of the Tashkent province.
According to the presidential press service, the Center was set up in cooperation with the Hungarian University of Agricultural and Natural Sciences.
“Large quantities of seeds are required to meet the domestic demand for potatoes. Today our country imports 200-300 thousand tons of consumer and 17 thousand tons of seed potatoes,” the statement said.
The new center will deal with the testing of Hungarian varieties and the production of seed potatoes. It will test varieties imported from Hungary and produce seed potatoes. A comprehensive quality assurance system will be developed for the entire potato production process by crossing Hungarian and Uzbek varieties. More than 50 varieties will be localized and the potato gene pool will be improved.
As a result of the application of innovative methods, it is planned to increase yields by 30-50 percent in 2021-2023. By 2024, it is planned to harvest 21 thousand tons of seed potatoes and completely replace its imports.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Viktor Orbán got acquainted with the facilities created here.
The research center has laboratories for in vitro and plant pathology, potato storage physiology, quality control, rooms for the preparation, cultivation and storage of samples, equipped with modern equipment. Four scientists from Hungary came to organize the activities of the center.
The guests also examined the center of agricultural services for farmers, equipment and technologies used in agriculture in our country.
