Head of the Department of Plant Agriculture Petr Chekmarev February 1 announced that Russia was faced with overproduction of potatoes.

"Potato is one problem - overproduction. Slowly but began its export, it has already reached 213 thousand tons ", -. Chekmarev said.

In his opinion, it is necessary 2-3 million tons, "remove from the Russian market." Head of pocherknul that for those regions that are engaged in the cultivation of potatoes, a strategic objective is to build potato processing plant.

According to Rosstat, in 2016, potato production in the country amounted to 31.03 million tons, which is 7.8% lower than a year earlier. Productivity decreased by 4% - up to 153 kg / ha. 24.3 million tons of potatoes were produced in private households in the agricultural organizations - 4.2 million tons