Potato Review

Capacity building project for potato growers launched in four districts of Punjab THE Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands hosted the launch of a capacity building project for smallholders potato growers in Punjab. Supported by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), the two- and-a-half-year project is meant to help increase productivity and sustainability of 960 smallholder potato growers in four core districts of Punjab (Sahiwal, Okara, Kasur and Pakpattan) with special focus on strengthening the role of women. The project will be implemented by the Center for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) and leading Dutch agricultural institute - Wageningen University. Blight-resistant Victoria provides hope RESEARCHERS from the National Agricultural Research Organization Uganda joined forces with the International Potato Center to develop a new variety of potato which is resistant to late blight. Using newmolecular techniques, they transferred late-blight resistance genes into the popular East African potato variety Victoria. The new variety, known as 3R Victoria, is almost identical to the variety farmers now plant in Uganda, with one crucial dierence: It contains three genes from a potato relative that provide it with complete resistance to the late blight pathogen. In Uganda, where about 300,000 smallholder households grow potatoes for subsistence and income, the disease can destroy as much as 60% of a farmer’s potato crop, which translates into annual losses of approximately $129 million. Currently, smallholder farmers have to use fungicides up to once every three days to control late blight. The cost of these chemicals is estimated to make up 10 to 25% of the total harvest value. The 3R variety eliminates the need for fungicides. With a reduced risk of diseases, it also means they could grow crops during the heavy rainy season, when late blight is most prevalent. Giveaways raise blight awareness PARTICIPATING Burger King locations in France gave away a complimentary 1kg bag of fresh potatoes with drive-through orders in February to help raise awareness of the plight of potato farmers facing reduced demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company gave away 200 tonnes of potatoes in the promotion. INTERNATIONAL Very high yields of pre-pack and ‘bakers’ Good resistance to internal defects and bruising Excellent culinary pro le; particularly when baked ipmpotato.com FANDANGO Fresh Market | Early Maincrop www.restrain.eu.com Contact Restrain UK Or visit our website Restrain offers the most cost effective solution for your in store sprout control, it's over 3 times cheaper than any other anti-sprouting alternative. Region North/West John Hutchison +44 7872 190938 Region South/East Jonathan Brown +44 7879 016245