News on Potato Varieties and Seed from India

Red Candy, a new potato variety launched by Technico Agri Sciences Ltd, combines early bulking with better storability. This addresses the key concerns of potato growers in e.g. in Bihar and Northern parts of West Bengal.

India based seed potato company Utkal Tubers is focused on the development of high yielding disease resistant varieties.

Technico Agricultural Sciences Limited (TASL), India has been carrying out extensive varietal evaluation trials under its Varietal Advancement program across the potato producing states in the country.

Recently Mahindra HZPC brought 30 more potato varieties from HZPC to India. They include HZPC's Perupas, an assortment of colourful varieties, rich in antioxidants for healthy lifestyle. The recently introduced varieties are expected to give rise to new and differentiated supply chains, especially in the modern retail space.

Union Additional Secretary Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Vivek Agarwal said Jammu and Kashmir has the potential to produce high quality virus-free potato seeds and become its largest producer.

Technico Agri Sciences Limited (a 100% subsidiary of ITC Ltd.) is an Agri-Biotech Company involved in the business of producing and selling 'Early Generation' high vigor seed potatoes, with its award winning TECHNITUBER® Seed Technology.

Potato cultivators in West Bengal were afraid they will face severe losses as the price of good quality seeds have skyrocketed even as the minimum support price (MSP) fixed has remained relatively low.

Central Potato Research Institute, (CPRI) Ooty in Tamil Nadu has developed two disease resistant potatoes - Kufri Sahyadri and Kufri Karan - hybrid varieties which at present showing promising results in improving yield by 25 per cent to 30 per cent at laboratory level.

Researchers of the International Potato Center (CIP) explain the difficulties small potato farmers in many states of India may face to access good-quality planting materials at affordable prices.

Even as the State Potato Mission failed to take off due to the lack of direction and apathy of the government to the project, it has expressed it desire to revalidate the contract with the International Potato Centre (CIP) for intensification of potato production.

Zephyr Peacock backed potato seeds company, Utkal Tubers, has announced the appointment of Vinod Bhat, an industry veteran as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Continuing its push to promote healthier variants of potatoes, FMCG major ITC is set to begin trial cultivation of red potatoes at Chandrala village of Gandhinagar district in Gujarat. Red potatoes are a variety recently launched by the company...

India's Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced today that he will be addressing the 3rd Global Potato Conclave at Gandhinagar, Gujarat through remote video conferencing tomorrow i.e 28th of January 2020.

Bengaluru-based potato seeds firm Utkal Tubers India plans to ramp up its annual production to 50,000 tons of high-yielding, disease-resistant seed potatoes across Gujarat, Assam, Punjab, UP, Haryana and Karnataka over the next three years.

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.

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.