Potato News from Asia

At a time when global recession has hit investments across the world, Pepsico has decided to invest Rs 250 crore more in its Frito-Lay potato chips plant at Sankrail in Howrah district, West Bengal.The new investment will give a boost to potato produc...

The snack-food division of PepsiCo Inc.’s Indian unit finds itself caught in a miniature version of the stand-off in Singur that led to Tata Motors Ltd driving its dream small car project out of West Bengal to Gujarat.

Having faced sourcing issues for potato in 2008, food and beverage major PepsiCo is planning to ensure supply by introducing farming equipment and technology and new potato seed varieties to decrease chances of crop loss. It also aims to increase the...

Bangladesh's Potato cultivation targets may not be achieved in 16 northern districts, including Rangpur-Dinajpur region, due to abnormal price hike of fertilizer and other agri-inputs this season.Farmers said they achieved bumper production last season...

David Levy of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is breeding potato varieties suitable for semi arid climatic conditions as they exist in several countries in the middle east and elsewhere. He has bred varieties that are better suitable for cultivation...

India’s potato output is estimated to rise 15.38 per cent in 2008 owing to the favourable climatic conditions. The total output of the so far evergreen vegetable is likely to rise over 30 million tonnes in 2008 compared to over 26 million tonnes in 200...

Police in southwestern Sichuan province arrested three people who bilked 92 million yuan (£9.13 million/13.4 million USD) from more than 1,600 people in a potato starch production scam.The three set up a company promising returns of more than 23 percen...

Around 60 percent of the potatoes and tomatoes crops in al-Wadi and al-Madinh districts of Marib governorate have been damaged due to frost waves. A filed committee of General Authority for Developing Eastern Regions was formed to register damages cau...

The increase was made possible in large part by support and assistance provided by South Korea, visiting South Korean scholars and agricultural officials noted. Seoul and Pyongyang have held annual symposiums on agricultural science since 2000.

Malaysia's crude palm oil production rose marginally to 1.7 MMT in November. The palms are showing signs of biological stress. A bigger carry-in stock and an increase in Palm Oil imports resulted in a record level of 2.3 MMT at the end of November.Howe...

McDonald's says it likely will become the first restaurant chain in Japanese history to surpass a half-trillion yen, or $5.6 billion, in yearly sales. Officials of McDonald's Holdings Co. Japan says sales are likely to top 500 billion yen in the 2008 b...

Tajikistan’s cotton harvest may have fallen well short of its target in 2008, but in at least one district in the Central Asian nation, potatoes are doing very well. Yet officials at the Ministry of Agricultural in Dushanbe insist they will keep growi...

Pepsico is planning to increase its sourcing of raw materials in India from contract farming and venture into new states regarding this.The company's foods business unit, Frito-Lay, procures 50 per cent of potatoes, required for making chips and strips...

India may be the third largest potato producer in the world but its contribution to global potato trade is merely half a percent, industry officials and experts participating in the Global Potato Conference said here Thursday.

Un agricultor del Líbano ha recogido en uno de sus campos la patata más grande del mundo. Un tubérculo de algo más de once kilos de peso. La enorme patata, con la que a buen seguro se podrá cocinar más de un plato, ha aparecido en un campo del Líbano...

A farmer in southern Lebanon has dug up what might be the heaviest potato in the world. "This giant weighs 11.3 kilos (24.9 pounds),"Khalil Semhat told the AFP news agency at his farm near Tyre, 85 kilometres (50 miles) south of Beirut. The ...

Álvaro Sánchez aplica lo que predica. Nunca se priva de alimentos que muchos consideran “chatarra”. Y no lo hace por amor a la bandera sino por convicción, porque, en realidad, se declara atraído por las papas fritas, los Doritos y los Cheetos. Claro q...

Although McDonald's Corp.'s sales may see some pressure from a slower economy in China, Wall Street analysts say the company should still report long-term sales and profit growth in its Asia Pacific region.At an investor meeting Friday detailing its As...