India: Gujarat potato is McDonald's Indian French fry Millions of consumers in India munch McDonald's French fry, also

called Mac Fry, every day. But many of them might not know that the potato they relish comes from Gujarat, thanks to an initiative by the Indian subsidiary of US multinational McCain Foods. McCain Foods India (MFI) processes and supplies frozen potato products from its swanky $14.6 million plant on the National Highway number 8 that connects Delhi and Mumbai. The plant is located 60 km away from Ahmedabad, enroute to Mehsana. The plant, which has a capacity to process 40,000 tonnes of potato a year, went on stream in June 2007. McCain's journey to success began in 1997 when it made its entry into India with a proposal to invest Rs.1 billion ($25 million) in potato fry business. "We were determined to stay put in India and make a success of the venture", Dilip Mukherjee, Country Manager of MFI. He said after a thorough study, the company concluded that Indian potato was not the ideal one for the business. Potatoes, which were larger in size and had less water content, were required, he said. For the kind of potato needed, Mukherjee said, it was necessary to develop the seed in cold climate. A team of researchers then took up the task of developing the seed at Lahul Spiti in Himachal Pradesh. After developing the seed the company started a search for the best area for growing the new breeds. That search ended at Mehasana in north Gujarat, as the region was blessed with a stretched wintry condition, which was vital for potato growth. And since the plant was also coming up in Mehsana, logistics demanded that the potato be grown in nearby areas. Mukherjee said MFI worked closely with farmers and encouraged them to share the new agronomy practices like relying on quality seed, drip and sprinkler irrigation systems, new planting techniques and adopting contemporary methods of potato storing. The joint endeavour bore fruit and Shepody, the new jumbo variety of potato, was born in India. Oblong in shape and huge in size Shepody was all weight. And now Santana, another new breed is on the anvil. Today, Deesa, Vijapur, Palanpur, Himmatnagar in north Gujarat and Anand in central Gujarat have emerged as India's hubs of new breeds of potato. Mukherjee claimed that farmers in north Gujarat were now convinced about the profitability of growing new breeds of potato without forsaking the cultivation of traditional varieties, consumed in millions of homes. The MFI initiative with farmers has resulted in Gujarat growing 2,000 tonnes of new breed of potatoes, which is almost entirely consumed by McDonald India for making French Fries. By 2010, the potato consumption of McDonald India is expected to reach 12,000 tonnes, almost entire quantity of which will be supplied by MIF, Mukherjee said. Abhijit Upadhya, Director of national supply chain of McDonald's India, said a thorough logistics supply chain arrangement has been constructed to receive McCain products in frozen form at the national distribution centres for West and South and North and East. McCain-McDonald's India's initiative with Gujarat farmers has grown into a unique technology driven enterprise, he added.

n general, Indian potatoes have very high moisture content between 85 percent and 88 percent. But to make French fries we also need a fairly high amount of solid content in the potato of about 22 percent to 24 percent. Unless you have these solids the French fries would soak up a lot of oil and get very limpy. That in one stroke takes away from the crispness. These potatoes are usually not grown in India. Most potatoes are used for vegetable making in India and they hardly require these specifications. They are, at best, medium and round. Another important requirement of our signature fries is the very large oblong shape. Medium and round wont do; 200-250 grams in weight and about 4 inches to 6 inches is what we needed. And lastly, they need to have low sugar. Otherwise, while frying the sugar caramelises and it results in a brown tinge on the fries. In 1997, we asked our global partners McCain Foods to extend their partnership to India and help us in developing the right kinds of potatoes in this part of the world. They agreed and set shop here with a team of two agronomists who started scouring the country for the ideal growing location. Simply put, all that potatoes need to grow are long daylight hours, cool nights and sandy soil. Cool nights mean that this is primarily a winter crop in India and between Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, about 90 percent of the countrys potatoes are grown. First off, we had to make sure we had the right seeds. The Indian government does not allow importing seeds and so we brought in some saplings to Lahaul in Himachal Pradesh. It hardly rains in Lahaul and all water there is fresh from the glaciers. We chose Lahaul as we could grow these saplings in a pollution free environment. Another advantage with Lahaul is that we are able to plant the seeds [that we got after planting the saplings] a lot quicker. Potato is a seasonal crop, usually harvested in March across India. The seeds are then stored for planting in November. In this case we plant the saplings in May in the hills and harvest them in September, making them ready to plant in November. After several years of testing out locations in states across India we finally settled on Gujarat for two reasons. Firstly, this part of the country does not get any winter rain and the nights and early mornings are without fog, which causes the potatoes to sprout. Also, Gujarat farmers are among the most entrepreneurial in the country and are quick learners. We introduced them to drip irrigation that helped save 30-50 percent of the water they would have otherwise consumed. Our yields per hectare are also 30-40 percent higher. All this took us seven years and by 2007 McCain was confident enough to invest $40 million and set up a plant in Mehsana, Gujarat. Our job hardly ends once the potatoes are harvested. This is probably the most crucial stage and we tell our people that potatoes have to be handled like eggs delicately. We realised that cold storage facilities in India were not up to scratch and had to set up our own. When potatoes are in storage they release a lot of carbon dioxide. That has to be pumped out and fresh air pumped in. Temperature also needs to be maintained. If you keep temperature too high, the potatoes tend to sprout. Keep the temperature too low and they develop sugar. French fries with sugar become caramelised when fried. Our restaurant managers are given complete autonomy to reject any consignment of frozen fries that does not meet our requirements. We take out a few random packets from each delivery and measure the fries. Forty percent must be above 4 inches, another 40 percent

between 2 and 4 inches and the last 20 percent less than 2 inches. Deviating a percent or two is fine but anything more than that and we send the delivery back. Making the right French fries is the first assignment we put our young recruits on. Our requirements are very strict and unless they learn how to make the right French fries we dont move them on to the next assignment, which is frying patties. I still remember my training at Jakarta when we learned how to fry them at 168o centigrade for three minutes and 10 seconds to get the perfect colour. Read more: http://forbesindia.com/article/my-learnings/in-search-of-the-perfect-potatomcdonalds-in-india/21052/1#ixzz1sh4Fj3UU