Potato News from India

August 26, 2008

Bengal launches campaign to increase potato consumption

The West Bengal government, along with the West Bengal Cold Storage Association (WBCSA), has launched an awareness campaign with an aim to increase per capita consumption of potato as well as prevent losses made by farmers. The programme comes in line ...

August 11, 2008

PepsiCo to roll out weather insurance for potato farmers in 10 Indian states

Following the success of trial runs in Punjab, Maharasthra and Karnataka, PepsiCo International is reportedly planning to roll out a weather insurance scheme for potato growers in 10 Indian states covering an area of 14,000 hectares. Partnering with IC...

July 31, 2008

Stratafoam announces association with Emerald Foam Control

Stratafoam announced this week an association with Emerald Foam Control to introduce their range of foam control additives in India. Among various industries in India that will benefit from this advance chemistry will be the Indian Potato Processing i...

July 23, 2008

Government mulls potato chips unit in Himachal Pradesh

Minister for Fertiliser and Chemicals Ram Vilas Paswan Wednesday said the central government has plans to set up a potato chips unit in Himachal Pradesh. “The central government is contemplating to set up a chips production factory in Kangra district a...

July 21, 2008

Pepsico buys potato in Uttar Pradesh at windfall prices

Farmers of the potato belt in Uttar Pradesh now see hope in PepsiCo. The company has started procuring a specific breed of potato from farmers at Rs 825 a quintal (100 kg) while the market is not fetching a price of even Rs 300 per quintal. The company...

July 18, 2008

Bengal farmers in potato protest

Angry farmers in the Indian state of West Bengal have been dumping their potato crop on roads in protest against poor prices. Farmers say they are selling at a loss because a bumper crop and lack of storage facilities has led to a dramatic fall in pr...

July 17, 2008

Snack Food market in India 2008 (GAIN report)

The snack food market in India is $3 billion;with the organized segment accounting for almost half of the market share and growing at rate of 15 to 20 percent per year.However, the imported snack food market is growing but small ($30 million) due to hi...

July 16, 2008

Indian Cold storage owners support potato growers

At a time when potato farmers in West Bengal are forced to sell their produce at a huge discount owing to a bumper potato production of 88 lakh tonne this year, they found by their side not only the state government, but also the cold storage owners. T...

June 27, 2008

Kolkata: Half a million people benefit of Potato Farming for Pepsico

Thousands of families — around five lakh (500.000) people — in Ranchi, Lohardaga, Ramgarh, Jamshedpur, Koderma, Deoghar, Dumka, Bokaro, Gumla and Hazaribagh for the past three years have actively joined the supply chain of Pepsico Ltd, the MNC (Multina...

June 26, 2008

McDonald's opens first 'Drive Thru' outlet in Hyderabad

McDonald's, a global fast food giant, on Thursday opened its first "Drive Thru'' outlet at a HPCL retail outlet in the city. As part of its strategic tie-up with HPCL to combine fast-food outlets with gas stations, McDonald's launched a full scal...

June 22, 2008

Potato farmers in Gujarat set up export company in response to bumper potato crop.

About 50 farmers from different districts in Gujarat have pooled in Rs 1 lakh each to launch their own company to export commodities like potatoes, groundnut, cotton, mangoes etc. KP Agri International Pvt Ltd aims to export agri-commodities to foreign...

June 18, 2008

Pepsico to increase snacks production capacity in India

Buoyed by the growing demand of its snacks, Pepsico India Holdings is increasing production across its various plants by one third of its current capacity in India in the next 18 months. "There has been a growing demand for our products and we wil...

June 12, 2008

Water shortage in Madhya Pradesh poses threat to the production of potato seeds at CPRI Research Station

The potato research centre, which has earned a name for producing quality potato seeds, is facing problems due to water scarcity. Most of the research center’s water sources have dried up. Even people working at the centre are not getting sufficient s...

June 11, 2008

McDonald's India plans to spend Rs.1 billion to open 15 more restaurants in Kolkata

McDonald's India plans to spend Rs.1 billion to open 15 more restaurants in Kolkata over the next three to five years. Vikram Bakshi, managing director of Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt. Ltd., a partner of McDonald's India (north and east region), sa...

June 09, 2008

The sad state of cold storages in India

This news from Deesa town in Gujarat reiterates the need for India to focus on building new warehouses across the country to help farmers keep their harvest in safe places. In a recent incident, farmers in Deesa in north Gujarat lost their potato harve...

May 26, 2008

GAIN Report: Oil Seeds and Products India 2008

MY 2008/09 total oilseed production is forecast at 36 million tons, up 6 percent over MY 2007/08, mainly due to an anticipated increase in soybean and peanut production in response to prevailing high prices. MY 2008/09 edible oil imports are forecast a...

May 08, 2008

Govt decision to ban potato futures questioned

Potato farmers and traders have questioned the government's rationale behind banning futures trading in the crop when there is a glut in the market and prices have declined due to bumper production. "There was no reason for the government to ban ...

May 07, 2008

PepsiCo’s snack foods division Frito-Lay India has tied up with the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

PepsiCo’s snack foods division FritoLay India has tied up with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to promote Tropicana pure juices and Quaker Oats An MoU between epsiCo and IMA has already been signed to the effect and the endorsement deal holds goo...