Ahmedabad, July 14 In yet another remarkable achievement, Gujarat has emerged as the leader in the processed potatoes industry as it has left behind other states in its production and also set a benchmark by scaling up its share in the country’s export of processed potatoes.
Today, Gujarat is the largest producer of processed potatoes and has also emerged as the largest exporter of French fries and wafers. Uttar Pradesh and Punjab come close second and third spots respectively, in terms of processed potatoes.
Notably, 'French Fries' remain a popular snack across the world and are consumed by children and adults alike. With the enhanced production of processed potatoes, the country is repositioning itself from French fries importer to exporter.
The 'French Fries' are made from processed potatoes and since they are being produced in bumper amounts, this has subsequently increased its share in the fries and wafers industry.
Gujarat has taken the lead in the country's export of processed potatoes, with more than 11.50 tonne being produced in the state alone.
In 2004-05, the production of processed potatoes was less than 1 lakh tonne with a sowing area averaging around 4000 hectares. With state govt support, the the production of processed potato reached 11.50 lakh tonne while sowing area saw a 10-fold increase of upto 37,000 hectares, in the last two decades.
In 2024-25, Gujarat produced 48.59 lakh tonnes of potatoes, of which about more than 25 per cent are processed potatoes, while the rest are Kufri potatoes, which are used to make vegetables.
The processing-grade potatoes cultivated by Gujarat farmers are supplied in large quantities to processed food industries that make French fries, chips or frozen food.
Out of the total production of processed potatoes, about 60 per cent is used for wafers and about 40 per cent for French fries production. Banaskantha, Sabarkantha and Aravalli districts are major contributors to this.
In the year 2024-25, potato was sown in a total area of 1.19 hectares in Banaskantha, Sabarkantha and Aravalli of Gujarat and a total of 38 lakh tonnes of potato was produced with an average productivity of 32.36 tonnes per hectare.
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