HyFarm, the agri-business unit of Ahmedabad-based HyFun Foods Ltd., has set up four “Vigyaanshalas” or centres of excellence for potatoes in Gujarat primarily to come up with a package of practices for growers and cultivate quality produce.

S Soundararadjane, Chief Executive Officer, HyFarm, told businessline that the Vigyaanshalas are demonstration plots of 2.5 acres to four acres. “The soil types and farming practices are totally different in these four regions. Some regions are good for growing table potatoes, some crispy types and some French fries,” he said.

HyFarm tries different permutations and combinations in these farms. With growers in all four regions wanting to cultivate potatoes that can be used for French fries, the Vigyaanshalas experiment in improving the yield and quality of existing varieties.

Objectives

“There are three clear objectives of Vigyaanshalas. One is how you get better quality and yield in the existing varieties. Number two, with the futuristic lot of new varieties coming in, we would like to look at what is the apt fertiliser dose to be recommended. The third is to ensure year-long supplies of potatoes for the processing plants,” said Soundararadjane.

For example, if the company picks up a new potato variety, it runs the variety through a different fertilizer regime — 10 per cent or 20 per cent less or higher dose. The performance of the potato variety is evaluated for the ideal fertilizer requirement.

Similarly, the spacing of the variety is also tested. For example, HyFarm is recommending increasing the width of potato seed beds to 48 cms from 30 cms. In some cases, the width is raised to 60 cms depending on the variety.

Soil health

“All these help us to give the right recommendation while we launch those new varieties in different geographies with the right package of practices. And regenerative agriculture principles will be followed because we are so keen about the sustainability of potato production in the State,” the HyFarm CEO said.

From the soil health point of view, the company is keen to ensure ideal usage of fertilizer and water for new and existing varieties. “After executing the trials, we move them into Paathshalas (or model farms) and from there on emphasise to replicate to all farms,” said Soundararadjane.

In some varieties, the company tries different dosages of biological fertilizers or microbials. “The objective of our Vigyaanshala is very long-term. Three years down the line, it will lead to taking up new varieties or packages of practices for farmers and preparing them for the future,” he said.

HyFarm is keenly looking at climate-resilient varieties. “How are these varieties performing in different climatic conditions? For example, if you look at the varieties in Gujarat, we require more heat-tolerant varieties. Similarly, when we look at which planting window will be ideal. Can we have new varieties of 100 days or less than 100 days?” the HyFarm CEO said.

Cold storage trials

The varieties cultivated in the Vigyaanshalas are put in cold storage trials to check their long and short-term storage efficiencies. “Finally, we look at the varieties’ long-term and short-term storability. Some varieties will fit very well for long-term storage. At the end of the day, our objective is we need to get potatoes available for our factory round the year,” said Soundararadjane.

With the impact of climate change in mind, the company is looking at early Rabi (10 or 15 days before the winter sowing season sets in). “We look at varieties that are suitable for early rabi season so that we can get the results by January 15 and can serve our early plant requirement,” he said.

The centres of excellence are trying to ensure potato supplies for the company’s processing plants for 320-365 days. “If we can get supplies for 365 days, it will be great. Last year, we could not supply stocks for 20-25 days. There was a blackout period between December 20 to January 10 or so. It happens with almost all the processing companies because the varieties are not ready for harvest,” he said.

The potato crisp sector initially faced these problems. However, the industry identified some varieties suitable for early rabi so that they will be available for processing by the end of December or the first week of January. “But for the French fries sector, the work is on,” said Soundararadjane, hoping the Vigyaanshalas will help to overcome these challenges.

(The writer was in Ahmedabad at the invitation of HyFarm)

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