News on Potato Varieties and Seed from Asia

In the Indian State of Karnataka, the Department of Horticulture has decided to provide certified seed potatoes to 1,000 farmers for pre-monsoon cultivation on a pilot basis.

To strengthen potato research, Punjab will set up a Centre of Excellence for Potato in Jalandhar (potato belt) in collaboration with The Netherlands, Shimla-based Central Potato Research Institute and Punjab Agricultural University

In a meeting on January 6th, the Ministry of Agriculture of China announced plans to double the total area of land devoted to potato cultivation from just over 5 million hectares to 10 million hectares.

Farmers and cold storage owners in India (Agra, UP) have lauded the decision to lift the ban on import of seed potatoes.

The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (Bari) and Peru-based International Potato Centre (CIP) will introduce a late blight resistant potato for use in next season: Bari Potato - 46

Azerbaijan and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) sign an agreement to develop the production of virus-free seed potatoes

The agri division of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, part of the $16.7 billion Mahindra Group, today signed a joint venture agreement with HZPC Holland to offer the best quality seed potatoes to farmers within and outside India.

HZPC Holland bv, wereldleider in aardappelveredeling, heeft vandaag in India met de Mahindra-groep (jaaromzet $16,7 miljard) in Chandigarh een overeenkomst getekend voor de oprichting van een gezamenlijke onderneming.

The Agribusiness Project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) organized a week-long training on Seed Potato Production Technologies in Pakistan.

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.

In a rare joint statement the world's three largest french fry manufacturers spell out that they do not use genetically modified potatoes to produce their french fries in China.

The International Potato Center's main partner in Uzbekistan, the National University of Uzbekistan in Tashkent received a US$2.8 million grant from the Government to implement a seed potato multiplication project using the three CIP clones released in the past two years.

In Bangladesh, over a hundred 'contract potato growers' of Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts blocked Debiganj-Nilphamari road at Debiganj upazila headquarters

The Israeli Biotech company Rosetta Green Ltd. recently listed at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE:RSTG), demonstrated improved tolerance and survival of RGN-131 potato plants to drought stress.

A controversy on field trials/multiplication of GM potato at the Central Potato Research Station (CPRS), Jalandhar, has started with activists, farmers unions and medical experts demanding from the Punjab government for immediate ban on these.

Una variedad de papa enriquecida con proteína mediante ingeniería genética se está probando actualmente en la India con propósitos comerciales. Desarrollado por Asis Datta en el Centro Nacional para Investigación en el Genoma Vegetal de la Universidad...

A genetically engineered, protein-enriched potato is being readied for commercial field-testing in India, scientists said.

With the mercury level steadily rising across India, potato growers need to switch to new varieties of heat-tolerant seeds for saving their crops, agriculture scientists have suggested.