News on Potato Storage from Asia

Raising China potato production is of utmost importance. In the coming years a great effort is to be made to meet the increasing demand of potatoes for fresh consumption and for industry.

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

SV-Agri and Mooij Agro have signed the agreement for the establishment of their Joint Venture in at the annual convention, held on September 10 and 11, last in Pune, India.

Aviko has acquired a majority interest in a fries factory in the north-east of China, which will be renamed Aviko-Snow Valley. The company plans to expand french fry production and add manufacturing of potato flakes.

Afghanistan would be self-sufficient in potato if proper cultivation and storage strategies were introduced in central Bamyan province, according to an official.

In Bangladesh, hoarders and wholesalers have started lifting huge quantities of potatoes from cold storages in the district Dinajpur as prices of the vegetable are rising fast in the local markets.

West Bengal state government today started selling potato at Rs 13 a kilo, a price pegged by chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on a day potato traders in Bengal began a 3-day strike to protest the administration’s ban on selling the tuber to other states.

Potato prices have almost doubled in most parts of India over the past one week. While most states are yet to take steps to check the spike in prices, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has called a meeting on October 30 to review the situation.

The Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI) in Shimla, India's premier potato research institute, has evolved a new technology to prevent conversion of starch into glucose in low temperature conditions, like cold storages.

Contrary to NGO stories of exploited farmers and middlemen running riot, Gujarat’s potato farmers have scripted an entrepreneurial success story by teaming up with multinationals and other buyers of their produce

David Thompson, President of World Potato Congress Inc., recently announced that Yanqing County, Beijing City, China, has been selected as the site of the 9th International World Potato Congress to be held July 28-30th, 2015.

For over 30 years, the International Potato Center (CIP) has played a significant role in developing Sino-Peruvian relations through the introduction and promotion of various varieties of drought and disease resistant potato and sweet potato to China.

Potato Tuber Moth (Phthorimaea operculella) populations are on the increase across southern Europe, particularly around Mediterranean basin, and are likely to lead to significant in-store losses and threaten the trade of infected tubers.

Cold storages in West Bengal are struggling to stay afloat because of the state government’s refusal to let them raise rent.

The Bengal state government may opt to defer a rise in the price of potato cold storage in light of the fact that an election is coming. Any rise in prices is unlikely to be popular with the electorate.

Wholesale potato prices in West Bengal softened by nearly 15 per cent this week, due to arrival of new crop.

In West Bengal, the joint committee of potato cold storage association has threatened to shut down their units if the state government fails to increase the rent by at least 50 per cent in the wake of hike in electricity tariff.

With potatoes from Punjab expected to reach Bengal only in December, state cold-storage owners are planning to make use of the projected supply crunch from mid-November.