Armenia’s Ministry of Agriculture boasts that the yearly potato crop is on the rise and that it not only meets domestic consumption of the tuber but there is real potential for export as well.

Estimates place the gross potato crop at more than 770,000 tons, at an average yield of 235-240 centners per hectare. (A center equals some 50 kilograms).

For comparative purposes, the average yield in Belgium is 563 centners per hectare, 535 in Holland, and 530 in Germany.

The ministry claims that in certain fields in Gegharkounik and Shirak, the average yield is 500-600 centners per hectare.

(In the Republic of Armenia, the potato is called kartofil and not the Western Armenian ketnakhdzor)