ISLAMABAD: Potato exports are likely to fall during the current fiscal year because smog has led to a 20 per cent decline in per acre production in Pun­jab, a webinar was told on Wedne­sday. The webinar, conducted by the Pakistan Horticulture Development Export Company (PHDEC), aimed to explore the consequences of climate change on potato crop and to suggest measures for combating its impact on productivity and quality. Due to the low crop yield, the country’s potato export fell to $127 million in 2023-24 — a decline of 40 per cent from $212m in 2022-23. The total production of potato stands at 8.3m tonnes in the country. The major production zone lies in Punjab’s Sahiwal and Okara districts. Dr Syed Ijazul Hassan, the director of Potato Research Institute, Sahiwal, said several factors like an increase in temperature, changes in precipitation patterns, and reduction in water availability had led to a decline in agricultural productivity. Dr Ijaz stated that smog causes late blight disease and reduces the quality of tubers. He listed integrated pest management and promotion of sustainable agricultural practices as mitigation strategies for protecting the potato crop from the effects of smog. Dr Muhammad Nawaz Sajid, the Principal Scientist at Sialkot’s Potato Research Station, said fog and pollution damage potato crop by causing diseases like early blight, late blight and black leg. “Fungicides should be sprayed to prevent blight disease. It is important to rotate crops regularly to prevent buildup of conditions in the soil that spawn the disease. “Infected plants and tubers should be removed and destroyed as soon as late blight develops,” Dr Sajid said. Athar Hussain Khokhar, the CEO of PHDEC, said climate change was a serious threat to agro ecology and “if we do not tackle this menace, the consequences may be in the form of food insecurity”. Crop failure and low productivity are two of the major challenges faced by agriculture sector because of climate change, he added. According to Athar Hussain, smog blocks sunlight, stunts the growth of seedling, and impairs the process of photosynthesis. “All these factors combine to reduce the per acre yield of potato crop.”