News on The Potato Supply Chain from India

Whether fried, baked or sliced, potato gels with nearly every dish. Its bond with Indian consumers would be further strengthened as it would come up in a new avatar and rich in antioxidants with excellent flavour.

To protect the interest of the Punjab farmers and uphold the state’s leadership position as the largest potato seed producing state in India, Punjab is planning the certification and traceability of seed potato using blockchain technology as of next year.

Indian Farmers’ movements have decided to put up a fight to ensure that farmers’ seed freedoms are not violated in any way. Many speakers also also felt that PepsiCo India should pay compensation to the Gujarat potato farmers involved.

After discussions with the government, the Pepsico India has agreed to withdraw the cases against the potato farmers. In April Pepsico sued four farmers for cultivating a potato variety - FC5 - grown exclusively for its popular Lay's potato chips.

The legal battle between a number of potato farmers in Gujarat accused of illegally growing a proprietary variety and food and beverage manufacturer PepsiCo India may be headed for an out-of-court settlement.

Leading farmers unions and rights advocacy groups have demanded that the PepsiCo immediately withdraw all legal suits it has slapped on many potato farmers in different districts of Gujarat.

PepsiCo has sued three potato farmers in Gujarat complaining that they have been illegally growing and selling a variety of potato exclusively registered to Pepsico for the use of producing its Lays potato chips.

The Odisha Government has decided to approve a major project with the International Potato Centre (CIP) focused on sustainable intensification of potato cultivation in order to achieve self-sufficiency in production in this Indian State.

Poor supply of potato in Madhya Pradesh in spot market and higher prices have escalated cost of production of chips manufacturers by over 10 per cent. The rise is likely to make packaged chips more expensive.

James Hutton Limited, has entered into a five-year agreement with Technico Agri Sciences, a subsidiary of Indian company ITC Limited, to provide 16 potato varieties and 600 clones to be trialled and tested in India.

The West Bengal state government is providing transport subsidy for the benefit of potato farmers, businessmen and cold storage owners, for exporting potatoes to other states.

Snacks and beverages manufacturer PepsiCo plans to invest $5 million by 2020 to expand its sustainable farming programme in India.

In an effort to limit the spread of the Potato Cyst Nematode, the government of India has prohibited the movement of seed potatoes from Himachal, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Jammu Kashmir to other states

The government in the Indian state Odisha has started producing potato variety ‘Chipsona’ on experimental basis in Koraput in anticipation of plans by Pepsico to establish a potato chips manufacturing unit in the region

A centre for excellence for potato-seed is all set to come up in Gujarat, through a collaboration between Indian and Dutch companies.

Potato prices in India are not going to come down in the near future as the production of the crop has been reportedly around 20 per cent lower this year in potato growing states.

A regular day in an Indian household is incomplete without the humble potato being part of at least one meal. It could be the filling in samosas, the centre of our vada pavs or the topping on morning poha.

In a bid to rein in prices of potatoes, the government of the Indian State Odisha has imposed stock holding limits on this Indian staple.