CAIRO: Samir El-Naggar, chief of the Agriculture Export Council, denied recent reports of a ban on the export of Egyptian potatoes to the European Union (EU). "There is no ban. There has been a mistake. First, only four incidents of brown rot were found, not six. Secondly, Egypt does not export potatoes to the EU during the summer, El-Naggar said, "The season for exporting is over. Egypt has no potatoes to export until next season anyway. El-Naggar also stressed that if enacted, such a ban would mainly affect Egyptian seeds and not table potatoes. Currently Egypt imports seeds from the EU and exports table potatoes to EU countries. During the winter and spring, the weather is ideal for the production of high quality potatoes for export. In the summer months, however, Egypt's supply of potatoes goes wholly to domestic consumption. Egyptian potatoes are nearly free of brown rot though the EU maintains tight restriction on brown rot. While brown rot is a common ailment of potato cultivation, it "does not affect human health, it does not affect table consumption; brown rot is only dangerous to crops, El-Naggar said. Any unilateral ban would be against established EU protocol, El-Naggar explained; "If five incidences [of brown rot] are found they have to sit down with us and look at [specifics of] the situation. Since the next Egyptian crop will not be ready for export to the EU until late fall, El-Naggar believes that any issues will be informally resolved before then. "We have a very good arrangement with the EU. In the late 1990s the EU banned Egyptian potatoes over concerns about brown rot and, consequently, farmers were forced to abandon contaminated land and begin farming elsewhere. At the start of this decade Egyptian potato-farming began expanding, and currently, there is no limit on the importation of potatoes to the EU. Representatives of the European Commission in Egypt could not be reached for comment. Egypt is trying to boost the production of potatoes by as much as 60 percent by the middle of the next decade. Egypt is the largest producer of potatoes in Africa and one of the 10 largest producers in the world. Potatoes are Egypt's number one vegetable produced and the world's fourth largest staple crop after corn, wheat and rice.
