Himachal potato attracts food processing industries

Its no longer serving its purpose only in the household kitchen. High-quality potato produced in the lower region of Himachal Pradesh....

Its no longer serving its purpose only in the household kitchen. High-quality potato produced in the lower region of Himachal Pradesh,specifically in the Palampur and Nagrota Bagwan belt of Kangra district and some low hill areas of Mandi district,has also caught the fancy of food processing industries.

Not without reason,though. The regions potato has a high percentage of dry matter up to 20 per cent which is an important requirement for production of chips. Another advantage that the region enjoys is the time when it harvests its potato. While the crop is harvested in May here,the farmers can supply the produce till July,which is a period when there is a lull in potato production across the country.

Add to all this the rigorous research by the countrys premier research body,Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI),Shimla,in developing varieties suitable for food processing industries. Till recently,West Bengal,Bihar,Malwa (MP) Indore and Ujjain were dominant suppliers to the food processing industries. It was around two decades ago that Shimla and upper Shimla hills catered to the need for potato seed for many parts of the country. However,after this phase ended,there was not much specialised marketing of potato produced in the hills.

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The potato production in the area slowly saw a rise with commercial firms like Frito Lays (Pepsico) increasingly offering good prices for the produce,says Dr Brajesh Singh,senior scientist,CPRI.

Himsona,a variety used for production of chips,was developed in the 1990s in a bid to push the mid-hills of the state in the Kangra region into industry-oriented production something that is reaping good profits even today.

Even though the Palampur belt is still using Kufri Jyoti seed variety developed in the late 1970s,Himsona too gives a good yield, said Dr Brajesh.

Ever since the 1990s when food processing industries stepped in,the focus of CPRIs research shifted significantly to producing varieties suitable for manufacturing chips and lately French fries,said Dr P S Naik,Project Coordinator,CPRI.

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He said Kufri Chipsona 1 and 2 developed in 1998 were followed by Kufri Himsona,a variety suited for the mid-hills. Kufri Chipsona 3,which came in 2005,is under multiplication stage now. Chipsona 1 and 2 varieties are being sourced by Frito Lays and ITC Bingo respectively for farming in various parts of the country,including some parts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka,Naik added.

McCain has set up a French fries unit in Gujarat where the Chandramukhi variety was used. However,for better results,the CPRI began work on developing seeds that could produce potato suited for this industry. Thus came Frysona some six months ago,which is the first-ever variety of India to be

accepted for production of French fries.

According to an estimate,nearly 10 per cent of the total potato produced in the country will be consumed by the food processing industry by the end of next year,a significant increase from the present figure of 4.5 per cent.