News on The Potato Supply Chain from Asia

Cheaper supplies from China have made Bangladesh's potato less attractive to international buyers, exporters said.

The horticulture department and Krishi Vignana Kendra had organised a demonstration of spraying pesticides in Narasipura in the wake of spread of blight disease for potato crop under Salagame hobli in the taluk recently.

With the prices of potato soaring, the West Bengalgovernment Saturday started selling the tuber from ration shops in the city and satellite town of Salt Lake.

Potato is not only a staple, it is also an important cash crop which is expanding year after year in Uzbekistan, and there is an obvious need for quality seeds necessary for local farmers to cultivate this crop.

Hurt by the steep price fluctuation in the mass variety of potatoes (Jyoti variety), farmers in West Bengal are taking to the production of Chandramukhi – a premium category of the tuber – to earn steady returns.

Growers and traders of potatoes are likely to suffer losses worth nearly Rs7 billion as the exports of the vegetable have been halted due to the negligence of the government.

Potato prices are expected to remain firm for the next few months in West Bengal. Prices have gone up by almost 34% for regular variety of potato over the last few months.

The West Bengal government (India) would revamp the ailing potato seeds institute at Kalimpong to keep its supply line intact for the benefit of farmers in the state without depending on Punjab or Haryana.

McCain Foods Pvt Ltd will bring 8,000 acres under potato cultivation in Gujarat (India) by 2014.

Pakistani exporters of potato are facing a loss of millions of dollars as Russia has stopped clearance of consignments after complaining that the potatoes from Pakistan are infected with a disease.

The Domestic and Export Market Intelligence Cell of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has asked farmers to sell potato on harvest as there were less chances of price increasing.

The Karnataka Government has announced a Rs 17.5-crore special package for potato growers of seven districts, who have suffered crop loss due to destruction by pests.

Institute of Informatics and Development (IID) organized two dissemination workshops titled “Increasing efficiency and inclusiveness in Agriculture: Findings of the Jute and Potato supply chain study”.

BioFach China 2012 will be held in Shanghai International Exhibition Center from May 24th to 26th. China is a very promising market for organic produce and is about to reach a phase of rapid growth, with an estimated value of 59.4 billion yuan by 2015,...

The Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE), one of China's two agricultural commodities exchanges, is considering introducing potato futures trading among a raft of new agricultural contracts set to launch later this year.

The government may be pressing the panic buttons due to spiralling food prices, but it failed to read the writing on the wall five months ago when thousands of farmers across Haryana, Punjab and UP set ablaze hundreds of tonnes of potatoes on the streets to protest low prices and mounting losses due to a glut.

Akkar potato farmers suffered a serious blow this season after losing one third of their crops due to bad weather conditions, the local farmers association said Monday.

Pakistani potato growers and farmers have been suffering colossal financial losses in the face of halt to export and lack of subsidies by the government to help them overcome their miseries.