Potato Processing Zone to boost tourism for Agra (India)?

Agra is globally known for being the city where one of the seven wonders of the world, Taj is situated.

But what has Agra to do with the Potato?

A lot, according to a study conducted by the marketing department of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L). The tuber, the study suggests, can actually give a boost to the tourism potential of Agra which is otherwise confined just around the monument of love.

The study, now forwarded to the state tourism department, categorically suggests a `Potato Processing Zone', one of its kind in the country. "The district has just the right kind of weather for the crop,'' said Prof Debashish Dasgupta, senior professor of marketing and the team leader who conducted the study recently.

The district accounts for 80% of the total production in Utar Pradesh. "But the resource is poorly tapped,'' he said, on the sidelines of a three-day international conference on tourism. Dasgupta said that potato farmers can be encouraged to channelise their produce for the processing industry, which can also contribute immensely to further the attraction of Agra.