News on The Potato Supply Chain from India

Potato shortages put consumers in the Indian State Odisha and the Odisha State government in trouble year after year. Now the Odisha State Government has announced an ambitious plan to cultivate potato in 25,000 hectares of land.

Aiming to boost potato exports, the Indian government is considering identifying ‘pest-free zones’ for the staple in production clusters of the growing states like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Lack of rain has left potato growers of Hassan - a district in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka in distress.

When CIP staff first arrived in Jodhpur things felt familiar. The arid landscape, the water table, and the warm days that fed into cool evenings were reminiscent of Gujarat - India’s most productive potato growing state, except that at Jodhpur and Jaisalmer district runs along the Pakistan border no potatoes were grown.

The West-Bengal government (India) has recently abandoned its proposed potato processing unit in Hooghly's Sheoraphuli after no private company showed interest in the project.

The Odisha State Government on Wednesday signed an MoU with Utkal Tubers India Pvt Ltd to produce quality potato seeds.

Potato farmers in Gujarat are a happy lot this year, as they are getting better prices for their produce despite 15% increase in potato production.

To boost research in potato production a new Potato Technology Centre was inaugurated in Haryana, India.

Potato prices in West Bengal may shoot up as much as 50-65% by April-May to Rs 18-20 per kg owing to an expected fall in production in West Bengal, which is said to have brought in speculators into play

In the Indian State of Assam ten onion- and potato retailers have been arrested because they charged a price for their vegetables above the legal limit.

The Odisha State Government’s plan to achieve self- sufficiency in seed potato production has gone for a toss with the National Seeds Corporation (NSC) and National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) backing out of its commitment to produce quality seeds within the State.

PepsiCo India is looking to enhance potato procurement through its tie-up with farmers in Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh.

Russia threatens to impose temporary restrictions on import of Indian potatoes.based on phytosanitary concerns (brown rot agent)

India's potato exports jumped more than two-fold during April-December period of this fiscal to 2.5 lakh tonnes.

Even though the ban by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on sale of potatoes to other states over the past three years has been lifted, cases of farmer suicides, which some say may have been driven by the fear of heavy losses, are still being reported.

The Government of India has stepped up taking measures, well in advance, to avoid any situation of abnormal increase prices of onion and potato.

Potato farmers in Deesa, Gujarat are concerned because there is not enough potato storage space for the large harvest.

A bumper crop, coupled with weak demand from other States, has led to a free-fall in potatoes prices in West Bengal.