News on The Potato Supply Chain from India

May 06, 2010

Frito Lay India to up contract farming by four-fold

Frito Lay India is looking at increasing contract farming of potato in India by almost four-fold over the next three years. “Currently, there are 15,000 farmers doing contract farming of potato for us while we are sourcing the commodity from 40,000 f...

May 02, 2010

High output keeps potato prices down in India

Since the beginning of March, the price of potato has dipped more than 16 per cent on account of higher production of the commodity in India this year. High arrivals have been reported in the mandis and that has kept the sentiments weak for t...

April 27, 2010

West Bengal announces transport subsidy for potato

The West Bengal Government has announced a transport subsidy of Rs 11 crore for inter-State transport of potatoes as well as export to other countries. West Bengal's potato production almost doubled to 95 lakh tonnes this year, against just about 55 l...

March 28, 2010

Bumper Potato Crop in West Bengal sends potato prices crashing

A bumper crop, government apathy and exploitation by middlemen has driven a debt-ridden potato farmer to commit suicide in North Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district this week. Many, however, are not ready to give in without a fight although the odds are agai...

March 07, 2010

India International Potato Expo 2010 rescheduled

The Indian Chamber of Commerce announced that the India International Potato Expo 2010 has been rescheduled to 8th &9th July’2010 at NASC Complex in PUSA, New Delhi. This postponement is due to unavailability of Central and State Ministers due to...

February 13, 2010

It is now possible to make perfect French fries with Indian potatoes (Blog on McCain Foods India)

This is a link to the Indian Food and Drink Blog of Vir Sanghvi. In this post Vir Sanghvi addresses McCain Foods India and some of their products.An exerpt:"Contrary to what I believed, Mr Narayanan was not just some import manager for McCain’s. H...

January 28, 2010

Punjab farmers advised to sell potato harvest in March

With the arrival of potato crop in Punjab, a study released by Punjab Agriculture Univeristy (PAU) Ludhiana has advised farmers to sell their potato harvest in the month of March when the prices are expected to touch Rs 575-610 per quintal.However, tra...

January 07, 2010

Chandubhai Virani, MD Balaji Wafers on (potato) futures

Will the futures trading force several food processing industries in India to close shop? That is one concern many food-based industries are facing in India due to the soaring prices of agriculture commodities. Many industrialists in India believe tha...

December 24, 2009

Potato prices in India have started to fall

Prices of potato, a must on most Indian tables, have started moderating, falling anywhere 15-20% on the back of strong arrivals across major mandis in the country. During the last one year, the humble tuber’s price had more than doubled. In the Jalandh...

December 18, 2009

India's potato output expected to rise in 2009/10

India' potato output is likely to rise by 5.1 percent to a record 32.7 million tonnes in 2009/10 as higher prices prompted farmers to cultivate the tuber crop on more area, a senior official said on Friday. "Because of scanty rains in some areas t...

December 07, 2009

India's potato output may rise to 8 per cent in 2009-10

The scare of light blight attack in Karnataka not withstanding, India’s potato output could rise by six per cent to eight per cent in 2009-2010, according to traders and analysts. In 2008-09, the output was placed at 260 lakh tonnes, down from the high...

December 06, 2009

CPRI develops heat resistent potato variety for India

Here is a good news for Indian potato growers.To cope up with the adverse effects of global warming, Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI), Shimla, has developed a new variety of potato - Kufri Surya - having more heat resistance.Night temperatures ...

October 23, 2009

Not enough potatoes in West Bengal

The state has less than a month’s stock of potatoes and the new crop is not expected till the last week of December. This emerged on Thursday at meetings held by the two cold storage associations in the state. “Around 660,000 tonnes of potatoes are le...

September 22, 2009

Potato prices at new peak of Rs 35 per kg

The price of potatoes from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab in the four key wholesale mandis of Delhi, Azadpur, Okhla, Keshavpuram and Ghazipur, vary from Rs 10-16 per kg, up from Rs 6-15 per kg a couple of months ago, reports Economic Times.However, ...

September 10, 2009

Potato prices to remain firm till November (India)

With prevailing prices of potato ruling at Rs 18-20 kg, the potato seed companies are expecting the acreage to increase by 5-6% from 16 lakh hectares in 2008-09. Experts say this could double potato seed prices during the rabi season. "For the pas...

September 02, 2009

West Bengal to buy Potatoes from other Indian States

After its failure to sell potato at Rs 13 a kilo, the West Bengal government has now decided to procure potatoes from other states to keep its price in the state under control."We failed to reach our target,"Agricultural Marketing minister Mo...

August 31, 2009

West Bengal state government still working to control the price of potatoes

The West Bengal state government has decided to take stern action against hoarders of potato, now that its price has crossed Rs 22 in many markets. The price rise is unjustified as there is a stock of 15 lakh metric tonnes of potato in the state. Thoug...

July 28, 2009

India plans for massive campaign to attract US$ 20bn foreign investment in the food industry

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India, is planning massive campaign through Indian Embassies in the foreign countries to attract investment of US$ 20 billion in the food processing industries in the country.According to Minist...