News on Potato Storage from India

Potato farmers in the Indian state Punjab are headed for another season of dwindling profits because the cold storage facilities are still flooded with old crop - and several other states are in a similar situation.

Many Potato farmers in South-west Uttar Pradesh (Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura, Agra, Firozabad, Etawah, Mainpuri, Kannauj and Farrukhabad) - accounting for roughly a fifth of India’s total potato production have been unable to sell all their potatoes of last season.

The Government of India is looking for solutions for preventing physical waste and loss of value of perishable agricultural commodities, according to agriculture experts.

According to reporting in the India Times, the state government of Uttar Pradesh (India) will soon begin the works of setting up a potato processing unit in the Agra district.

Gujarat's Banaskantha district has mashed Agra (Uttar Pradesh) in potato production, taking the No. 1 rank in India.

Potato shortages put consumers in the Indian State Odisha and the Odisha State government in trouble year after year. Now the Odisha State Government has announced an ambitious plan to cultivate potato in 25,000 hectares of land.

The Government of India has stepped up taking measures, well in advance, to avoid any situation of abnormal increase prices of onion and potato.

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.

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

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.