CU LTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY India is on the threshold of large-scale potato mechanisation ondary crops. For us, as big seed potato growers, our brand name is our certificate’, Bhatti explains the positioning in the market. Improving storage Bhatti was one of the first big growers who took his chances with Allround. A first project they embarked on together was the logistics in storage. The fact is that potato storage takes place in enormous five-story, mechanically-cooled warehouses where they are stored in 50 kg bags. Workers have to lift the bags to their storage location manually, using big, metal hooks to lift the bags. This is very heavy work and causes extra damage to the potatoes when, after having dragged them up 10 flights of stairs, the bag carriers pile them up. The advantage of such traditional storehouses is that they are easy and cheap to construct. Due to increased wages – the daily earnings have risen from 1.75 to 3.50 euros in recent years – professional growers are looking for other solutions in cultivation and logistics. ‘The elevating web is a first step we’ve taken in the area of mechanisation. We have plans to expand our storage with a storehouse for 6,000 tons of seed. In this new storehouse, we no longer want to store the potatoes in 50 kg bags, but we’ll change over to 25 kg bags. These are easier to process. In addition, we want to install a ‘recovery room’ where the potatoes can gradually warm up from 10 C to 140 C before they are taken outside. This means that we no longer have to spread them out over the floor as we used to do to warm them up and dry them. This old method requires a lot of labour and also may cause more damage’, Bhatti makes clear. Bhatti already works now with trays on the floor where the seed potatoes are forcedried with air. An enormous improvement compared to the system where tubers are randomly spread on the floor and are turned over. Straight after the harvest, the potatoes fetched 10 rupees per kilogram at the wholesale market in Ambala. Mini tubers the basis for professional cultivation In India, the professional cultivation of seed potatoes starts fully with the cultivation of mini tubers. In order to do this, 22 Potato World 2017 • number 1 Pagina 21
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