News on The Potato Supply Chain from Asia

The (Dutch) project ‘Growing out of poverty with the potato’ is trying to make Vietnam self-sufficient in the production of potatoes.

The Netherlands is exploring the possibility of starting a programme to grow salt-tolerant potatoes in Pakistan.

The Hassan Horticulture Research Extension Station of the University of Horticultural Sciences-Bagalkot (UHS-B) in Karnataka, India, is all set to introduce 35 new varieties of potatoes in the next one to three years.

Potato farming in the Indian state Gujarat has reached an all-time high with over 18 per cent more planting compared to last year.

The government of India Tuesday removed the minimum export price (MEP) of potato, which was imposed in July, to boost shipments of the kitchen staple.

In response to protests of potato farmers, the Indonesian government pledged on Thursday to immediately stop illegal potato imports that have put local farmers at risk.

Despite a fresh crop arriving at the wholesale market in Vashi (Mumbai area), retail prices of potatoes show no decline

Potato production in Dolakha - a district in Nepal severely affected by the 2015 earthquakes - has dropped sharply this year due to a prolonged winter drought.The drop in output has occurred when farmers in the district had been preparing to brand their products.

MHZPC, a 60:40 JV of Mahindra Agri Solutions Limited (MASL) and HZPC, today inaugurated its modern and state-of-the-art Aeroponic facility in Mohali. The new facility will produce the best of its kind seed potatoes by using an innovative process and latest technology.

Farmer, Hao Jinde, sold his potatoes, over 500 kilograms of them, for 600 yuan (US$88). Instead of setting up a stall on the street, this year Hao sold them to a store belonging to an online shopping platform in his village in Jingle County, a potato growing region in north China’s Shanxi Province.

With the help of Dutch technology and the Chinese people's own hard work, it is possible to double China's potato production as proposed in the current five-year plan, thus making potato a strategic bulk necessity for the Chinese population, said Jan Hak, a Dutch agri-food expert who has been engaged in Sino-Dutch agricultural cooperation in the past decades.

With potato consumption continuing to rise in Cambodia, the Agriculture Ministry unveiled last month a USD 200,000 research center it hopes will research and develop potato varieties most suited to the country.

Japan's largest fresh potato production region - Hokkaido - was struck by four typhoons in August of 2016. Approximately 24,000 ha of land received damaging levels of rain and flooding, including areas producing fresh potatoes.

It is a particularly unsuccessful year for North Korean agriculture. An inside source in North Korea has reported that torrential rains have affected the potato harvest in Unheung and Daehongdan in Ryanggang Province.

Potato breeders at the International Potato Center (CIP) strive to develop marketable, resilient varieties with resistance to viruses and late blight that can be grown in an array of environments. An example...

As of September 5, Armenian farmers had harvested 210,000 metric tons of potato - 40,000 tons more than the year before, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. The land used for potato cultivation increased this year by 771 hectares to a total of 34,077 hectares.

On August 28, the Indian manufacturer of French Fries and Potato Specialties HyFun Foods held its grand formal inauguration of its new production plant.

In the last fiscal year (FY'16), Bangladesh's potato production hit an all-time-high of 9.47 million tonnes, the latest data showed. However cold storage facilities showed little progress compared to the higher output.