Next season, farmers in Bangladesh will be able to grow industrial-grade potatoes that can be used to make ready-to-eat foods like French fries, chips, and flakes thanks to two potato varieties created by the private company ACI Seed.

According to ACI Seed, the new potatoes – Valencia and Cartagena – have more than 22% dry matter, making them suited for both industrial use and everyday eating.

According to ACI, which was reported by The Business Standard, the new potato varieties are more productive than the traditional ones and have a shorter growing season, lower post-harvest losses, more disease resistance, and higher dry content.

These two genotypes provide an average yield of more than 35 tonnes. Additionally, the two potatoes’ growing time is 60 days rather than the customary 90 days for harvesting potatoes.

The new Valencia (White) type potatoes resemble diamonds. However, due to the variety’s higher output of almost 35 tonnes per hectare, it is more disease-tolerant. The potatoes’ size is excellent for export needs as well. The typical production in Cartagena exceeds 40 tonnes per hectare.

The greatest post-harvest and storage loss for the new types is 2%, compared to 3%–5% for conventional potato varieties.

ACI Seed’s commercial director, Sudhir Chandra Nath, told the above-mentioned media source that the company has thus far concentrated on table potatoes. However, the production line has changed its focus, and it is now prepared to deliver 100–150 tonnes of these two varieties of potato seeds for the upcoming season.

In the most recent fiscal year, Bangladesh produced about 10.1m tonnes of potatoes. Around 7–7.5m tonnes of potatoes are consumed in the nation each year; the remainder is used for exports and food processing.