Turkey's first domestically grown potato seeds -"Fatih" and "Onaran2015" - will be offered to potato farmers in January 2016. The project called "Turkey's First National Potato Seed Production" was announced in the Nov. 1 election manifesto of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and is expected to alleviate Turkey's dependence on foreign sources and to help the country save millions of dollars spent on foreign-grown potato seeds. The first domestically-grown potato seeds were first registered on April 1, 2015 as a result of studies that had been conducted by the Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry's Potato Research Institute since 2005. The project will enable farmers to purchase potato seeds at much lower prices than they pay for imported seeds. Statistical data suggests that Turkey imported around 19,000 tons of potato seeds for $16.6 million from 16 countries in 2014. Turkey is expected to save millions of dollars with the introduction of domestic potato seeds in 2016. According to information compiled from Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry sources, Fatih is a kind of yellow potato which is used for making french fries. Also, Onaran2015 is a kind of light yellow potato which is good for cooking. The ministry plans to add four new kinds to the two registered potato seeds next year.
