About 11,000 tons of potatoes were imported from China in January-April 2025. Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kyrgyzstan reported this at a meeting of the Committee on Agrarian Policy, Water Resources, Ecology and Regional Development during the discussion of the draft law «On Food Security».
At the same time, according to their data, Kyrgyzstan provides itself with potatoes by 123 percent.
Deputy Balbak Tulobaev was outraged by this state of affairs.
«Potatoes are the only vegetable that we provide ourselves with, there is even a surplus — 123 percent. But in reality, we eat potatoes from China, which we import. Why is this happening? Why doesn’t the Ministry of Agriculture monitor the situation?» he asked.
First Deputy Minister of Agriculture Zhanybek Kerimaliev stated that the ministry conducts annual monitoring of the number of hectares planted with potatoes.
«This year, the yield is good. But the harvest in Kazakhstan and Russia is not high due to the recent mudflows. One of the reasons for the high price of potatoes in the Kyrgyz Republic is that farmers kept vegetables in warehouses in anticipation of a higher price for them, up to 100 soms. But after our specialists conducted explanatory work with farmers, the latter began to sell potatoes from warehouses. They made a good profit this year,» he added.