News on Food Trends from Indonesia

Expanding cultivation of potatoes on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island infringes on Kerinci Seblat National Park, the largest protected area on Sumatra and one of the last refuges of the Sumatran tiger, Sumatran elephant and the Sunda clouded leopard.

A new study published in Plant Pathology identifies for the first time the genotypes of P. infestans, causing late blight in the main potato-growing regions in Java, Indonesia.

Potato cultivation in the highlands of Indonesia is plagued by a number of pests, including Potato Cyst Nematodes and Phytophthora infestans. Dutch experts help their Indonesian counterparts to find the right approach for control.

The Salim Group, one of Indonesia's largest business groups, signed a R&D agreement worth $10 million with seed producer East West Seed Indonesia in The Hague last Friday to boost potato production in Indonesia.

Potatoes cultivation is partly to blame for a recent landslide in Wonosobo, Central Java, as farmers engage in unsafe planting practices that harm the environment to try to reap high prices - according to a study revealed last week.