Nepal Project Final Report: Canadian Seed Potatoes

Chengting Wu
#0926869
AGR*1110*102
Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Chengting Wu

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Nepal Final Report

ABSTRACT
The sort of potato selected in this project is the Russet Burbank produced by Toner Farms
Ltd. & Riverside Packers Inc. The main purpose to export such a basic agricultural produce
to Nepal is to relieve its current food crisis and introduce our high-quality Potatoes to the
local farmland as a cultivar. This paper will provide a general introduction of Russet
Burbank, Canadian potato production (especially Canadian Seed Potato Production), and the
Canadian company Toner Farms Ltd. & Riverside Packers Inc. In addition, a critical analysis
of the benefit of Canadian Seed Potatoes and its influence on the Nepalese agriculture will
also be given in this paper.
Part 1. Product Information
Russet Burbank Introduction
Russet Burbank is a late-maturing potato which requires 140 to 150 days to grow. It is a good
long-term storage potato for processing and tablestock (Toner Farms Ltd., 2015). Potato is a
wholesome food containing carbohydrates (16%),

Figure 1. Nutrition Facts of Russet Potato

proteins (2%), minerals (1%), dietary fibres (0.6%)

and is a good source of vitamin C and antioxidants
(Marwaha et al., 2010). As the information shown on the
Figure 1, 100 grams of the Russet Burbank contains 97.0
calories and 3 grams of protein per 100 grams. It also has
sufficient Vitamin C (22%) to satisfy the basic nutritional
needs of a human (Nutrition Facts, Potatoes, 2015).
Around 1880. Russet Burbank was first bred and selected
by L. Burbank in Santa Rosa, California. Then Canada
introduce this type of potato in 1923, registered is as P-17

Picture Source:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-andvegetable-products/2550/2

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in the Agriculture department of Canada (Russet Burbank, 2013). The main reason Russet
Burbank was selected was not because of its medium to high yielding variety, but due to its
feature of long period of storing and dormancy (Russet Burbank, 2013). As the consequence,
the seed Russet Burbank can be suitable for long-term transportation (which will be
mentioned in the transportation section). Russet Burbank has multifunction of using, it can be
boiled, fired, or baked, thus can be used as the raw material for various cuisines (Russet
Burbank, 2013).
Why Seed Potatoes?
Of so many kinds of technologies and products, why potato was chosen? That is because
potato is the food Nepalese people like to eat and what Canada majorly produce. Nepalese
have five main dishes which use potatoes as raw materials. They are Alu Acchar (Pickled
Potatoes), Alu Dum, Alu Roti, Alu Tama, and Alu Tareko (Food Nepal, 2015) (shown in
Figure 2). Those cuisines require either fried potatoes or boiled potatoes, and these are just
Figure 2. Nepalese Five Main Dishes
Contains Potatoes

Russet Burbank fit for. As the result, it is

practicable to export the food Nepalese like to
eat instead of sending some new technologies or
products which they are not familiar with, and
thus no more extra fees such as costs on training
or maintenance will be made on Nepalese
people. Besides, exporting seed potatoes is
better than just fresh potatoes because seed
potatoes can not only satisfy the market need of
Nepal, but can also benefit to the Nepalese
farmers. Farmers can grow the modified Russet
Burbank in Nepal and have a better harvest.
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Canadian Potatoes Production

Canada has a relatively large scale of potato production. The total number of potato farms in
Canada in 2011 was 1,323 (see Figure 3 below) and the total planted and harvested area in
2014 were 140,644 hectares (see Figure 4 below) and 139,075 hectares (see Figure 5 below)
respectively. The number shows a decline since 2010, but the total production still remained
at a relatively high level, producing 4,625,871 tonnes in 2014 (see Figure 6 below). Among
various kinds of potatoes, Russet Burbank was the largest output in 2014 (see Figure 7
below).
Figure 3. Number of potato farms in Canada (2006 and 2011)

Source: Statistics Canada

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Figure 4. Seeded area by province (hectares)

Source: Statistics Canada

Figure 5. Harvested area by province (hectares)

Source: Statistics Canada

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Figure 6. Production by province (tonnes)

Source: Statistics Canada

Figure 7. Top 10 registered seed potato varieties grown in Canada, total area accepted
in 2014 (hectares)

Source: Statistics Canada

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Company: Canadian company Toner Farms Ltd. & Riverside Packers Inc.
Canadian company Toner Farms Ltd. & Riverside Packers Inc. is located at 501 E.H.Daigle
Blvd in Grand Falls, New Brunswick. Founded in 1983, this family owned company has the
expertise of exporting potatoes to other countries as well as fine packing techniques (Toner
Farms, 2015). The company uses modern technologies such as refrigeration, humidity control
system, and ventilation equipment to store the potato, so as to ensure the finest quality of the
potato (Toner Farms, 2015). The company is also enrolled in several safety and quality
program. It joins into the Canada Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) program. Toner Farms
Ltd. Also registered as a member of CT-PAT (Canadian Trade Partnership Against
Terrorism) since march 2004. The partnership guarantees that the company is controlled by
strict guidelines regarding the access to their premises, their hiring process, and transport of
their products (Toner Farms, 2015). Additionally, they are also certified by CFIA (Canadian
food inspection Agency) as a C-PIQ (Canadian Partners in Quality) registered facility (Toner
Farms, 2015).
Canada Potato Price
According to Figure 8, in the crop year 2013/2014, the average price of potato in New
Brunswick was 269.06 Canadian dollars per tonne, which was equal to 21507.50 Nepalese
Rupees (Statistics Canada, 2015). Base on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of
Nepal (256531.20 Rupees in 2014, CIA The World Factbook, 2015), this is not a small
number for Nepal people. If exporting seed potatoes to Nepal becomes practical, the price of
them should be balanced in order to fit for Nepalese purchasing power.

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Figure 8. Canadian potato farm average prices (Canadian Dollars per tonne)

Source: Statistics Canada

Canadian Seed Potatoes Export
Canada is a large exporting country in the area of agriculture. Given in the Figure 9, in the
crop year 2013/2014, the export value of seed potatoes was 39,630,342 Canadian dollars,
which was 3.1% of the entire potato exports (1,287,144,087 Cdn dollars in the crop year of
2013/2014, Statistics Canada, 2015). New Brunswick exported 20,489 tonnes of potatoes,
valued at 8,123,564 Canadian dollars (see Figure 10 & 11 respectively), which took up 21%
of the domestic exports in 2014 (Figure 12). Nevertheless, the main export country is the
neighbouring country, United States, which occupied 80.80% (Figure 13) of the total
Canadian exports value (Statistics Canada, 2015). As the consequence, taken a small portion
of the Canadian seed potatoes exports to Nepal may bring out a tremendous benefit towards
this South Asia country.

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Figure 9. Canadian potatoes trade balance (Canadian dollar)

Source: Statistics Canada

Figure 10. Seed potato exports by province, volume (tonnes)

Source: Statistics Canada

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Figure 11. Seed potato exports by province, value (Canadian dollars)

Source: Statistics Canada

Figure 12. Seed potato exporting provinces percent share

Source: Statistics Canada

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Figure 13. Seed potato export destinations, value (Canadian dollars)

Source: Statistics Canada

Machinery Required
The main machine required in the production of potatoes is the potato harvester (see Figure
14 below).
Figure 14. Structural Chart of the Harvester

Source: Development of an Optical Yield Monitor for Sugar Cane Harvesting (2007)
Note: this is not the exact structural chart of the potato harvester, but still it is very similar excluding the part of
Topper & Crop Divider.

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Qualified potato harvest system should remarkably enhance the efficiency of the harvester in
terms of providing uniform flow of material from the primary to the secondary chain over a
wide variety of field conditions and ground speeds, so as to eliminate the remaining soil
earlier in the harvester, thus delivers cleaner, higher-quality tubers (Hyde et al., 1983). In
addition, better harvesting system should minimize the damage to tubers. The premium
ground speed of the automatic load-control system in the primary chain is at the range of 2.6
to 4.2 kilometres per hour, and therefore the damage of the tubers caused by the ground speed
can be minimized (Hyde et al., 1983). Making the ground speed higher than conventional
primary speed ratios has a potential of providing a better filtration of potatoes and elimination
of soil, and higher productivity of the harvester machine (Hyde et al., 1983). The Figure 15
below gives the ratios of damage in the premium speed range created by Hyde et al. in 1983.
Figure 15. SOIL ELIMINATION AND TUBER DAMAGE BY GROUND SPEED FOR
ALL CHAINS.

Benefits to Canada
This is a chain reaction. Enlarging the scale of exports of seed potatoes can increase the value
of sale and trade of Canada. This will not only benefit to the Canadian agricultural economy,
but can also cause the growth of transportation, processing, packing, and many other relative
industries. Additionally, the enlargement of the exports would result in the enlargement of
production, thus more labours will be required and more efficient methods of cultivation will
be needed. Farm companies need to recruit more employees who have the advanced
knowledge in this field, therefore providing more job opportunities to the technical personnel.
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Relatively, the scale of processing, packing, and transportation, etc will also improve along
with the enlargement of the seed potatoes production.
Part 2. Export potential to Nepal
Introduction of Nepal
Nepal is a Southern Asian country located between China and India. It has the total area of
around a hundred and forty-seven thousand square kilometres, which 28.8% of it is used for
farming, including 15.1% of arable land, 12.5% of permanent pasture, and 1.2% of
permanent crops (CIA The World Factbook, 2015). Currently, Nepal is facing some
environmental problems. Natural Hazards such as severe thunderstorms, flooding, landslides,
drought and famine (depending on the timing and intensity), and duration of the summer
monsoons often happens and violates this country. Environmental Issues including
deforestation (overuse of wood for fuel and lack of alternatives) and contaminated water
(with human and animal wastes, agricultural runoff, and industrial effluents) also do harm to
the Nepalese farmland (CIA The World Factbook, 2015). Those problems make agriculture
very difficult to develop in Nepal.
Potato Production in Nepal
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) was first introduced to Nepal by European (initially
Portuguese) mariners in early seventeenth century (World Potato Atlas, 2015). Potato
remained relatively unrecognized and minor for over 150 years, until in the early 1960s
officials tried to improved such a cultivar under a program sponsored jointly by Nepal and
India (World Potato Atlas, 2015). Over the past half century, potato has become the fastest
growing crop in Nepal, reaching at 2 million metric tons in 2007 (See Figure A).

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Figure A. Potato Production

Source: World Potato Atlas

Transportation Logistics
Due to the tremendous amount of exports, seed potatoes should be transported either by air or
by sea. Airway is not a potential way of exporting potatoes due to the high costs of
transportation fees caused by air carriers. Therefore, shipping is the only possible way to
transport potatoes to Nepal.

Logistics Enterprise: BYEXPRESS is the chosen logistics company in this project.

This has the experience in business for over 10 years and more than 40 years of
experience in logistics, supply chain management, warehousing, and transportation
(BYEXPRESS, 2015). It can provide either domestic or international transportation in
Canada, no matter the quantity is small or huge.

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Selected Harbour: Port Saint John is the closest harbour to the Grand Fall. Situated
in the southern part of the province of New Brunswick, it is the largest port in Eastern
Canada which has a diverse cargo base. Annually, it can handle an average of 28
million metric tonnes of cargo (see Figure B), including dry and liquid bulks, break
bulk, containers, and cruise. Port Saint John is a facilitator of trade and a part of
Canada's Atlantic Gateway, and it is connected to over 350 ports across the globe
(Port Saint John, 2015).

Nepalese Retail Store: Nepal Agro Centre has around 25 years of experience in the
distribution channel around Nepal. It is the distributer of many multinational
companies as well as the importer of Insecticides India Limited and Excel Crop Care
Limited and SEMNIES (Monsanto) (Nepal Agro Centre, 2015).
Figure B. Total Port Traffic (in millions of metric tonnes)

Source: http://www.sjport.com/business-resources/cargo-movement/historic-volumes/

The potato transportation is mainly by means of trucks and cargo ships. As the consequence
of no railway system in Grand Fall, seed potatoes must be carried by trucks offered by
BYEXPRESS to the Port Saint John. Then product should be carried by ships, passing
through the Strait of Gibraltar and Suez Canal, arriving at Mumbai (see Figure C). Nepal is

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an inland country, and there is no railway system between Mumbai and Nepal as well.
Consequently, potatoes should be carried by trucks again after they arrive at Mumbai.

Figure C. Route of Transportation

Source: Google Map

Storage/refrigeration Issues from Post-harvest to Market

This is one of the tough barriers that need must be solved. Toner Farms Ltd. can store
potatoes in the facilities equipped with refrigeration, ventilation, and humidity control
systems for a long period of time. But the farm cannot provide such technologies after
potatoes leave the farm. Controlling a reasonable humidity in its transportation is vital,
otherwise it will cause a devastating consequence on tubers. Ships and trucks should be
equipped with the similar refrigeration, ventilation, and humidity control systems which the
farm has, and thus minimizing the damage on seed potatoes.

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Benefits to the Import Nation & Consumers

A large amount of potato entering the Nepalese market and cooked in Nepalese kitchens will
temporarily relieve the local food crisis. However, the primary benefit to Nepal is in the
farmland. By introducing Russet Burbank to the local farmland, Nepalese farmers can
cultivate it on their own and make their own profit. Compare to the potato which is originally
farmed in Nepal, Russet Burbank may have a better production and storing. Farmers do not
need to be trained on how to farm potatoes, which means they dont need to spend any extra
money on Russet Burbank except buying its seed. The Nepalese agricultural economy will
also be benefited if more amounts of Russet Burbank is planted locally.
Potential buyers could be local families, farmers, and agricultural production companies.
Farmers and agricultural companies purchase and cultivate Russet Burbank in Nepal, thus
creating the made in Nepal Russet Burbank, which will flow to local markets and be
purchased by local families and turned to the part of those Nepalese cuisines.
Potential Issue: Diseases
Seed potatoes must be guaranteed by the local government to be disease free (Iannotti, 2015)
when they are about to be exported. However, the safety cannot be guaranteed any more once
they arrive in the importing country. Seed potatoes might be infected by the local pests,
viruses, or bacteria due to no relevant antibody in the plants immune system. Therefore, it is
highly potential that the exotic cultivar can be invaded by local diseases, resulting to the
sick or even dead plant. A practical method which can address this problem is setting up
some researching lab in the local area and detecting the diseases Russet Burbank may infect.
However, this method will cost a large amount of time, budget, and labor. It may also have
the possibility which some diseases cannot be detected. Moreover, once the diseases in the
plant are found out, scientists should also invent and produce the corresponding medical

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treatment to heal the plant, which will cost another tremendous budget as well. And Nepalese
farmers may not be affordable to those medicines.
Potential Issue: Global Challenge
The biggest challenge comes from the two neighbouring countries of Nepal: India and China.
These two countries also have vast scales of agriculture. They also have the capability to
export its seed potatoes to Nepal.
China exports a small proportion of potato and potato products to other countries. Its
exporting amount of fresh potatoes have been maintained at 300,000 to 350,000 metric
tonnes since the crop year of 2005/06 (Agrochart, 2014). Such number is very small,
comparing to the annual production of 80 million metric tonnes in China. Malaysia, Vietnam,
and Russia are the three largest export nation of China, occupying 75 percent of Chinas fresh
potato exports in total in the crop year of 2012/13 (Agrochart, 2014). Due to the policy,
China still hasnt started exporting seed potatoes to other countries.
Indias five main exporting destinations which took up 55% of the total vegetable exports are
United Arab Emirates (UAE), Nepal, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia
(Vanitha et al., 2014). And tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), onion, and potato (S.
tuberosum L.) are the three major exported vegetables, occupying 45% of total area under
vegetable cultivation and 50% of the total Indian vegetable production (Vanitha et al., 2014).
In the crop year 2012/2013, India totally produced approximate 42 million metric tonnes (see
Figure D) of potatoes (India potato statistics, 2015), and 44% of the exported potatoes (see
Figure E) are sent to Nepal (Vanitha et al., 2014).

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Figure D. Indian Production of Potato (2012/2013)

Source: http://www.potatopro.com/india/potato-statistics

Figure E. Markov chain analysis for market share potato exports.

Source: Export Competitiveness of Fresh Vegetables in India. (2013)

According to Alibaba.com, the price of potatoes per tonne in India and China can varies from
US$150 to US$350, equalling 15972.00 Nepalese Rupees to 37268.00 Nepalese Rupees.
Based on the average of potato price per tonne in New Brunswick (21507.50 Nepalese
Rupees), Canadian potatoes is still competitive in the Nepalese market. But still, it is even
better to partly subtract the price of Canadian seed potatoes to make them more affordable for
Nepalese farmers.

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Future Studies Required & Unknowns

For the further study, scientists need to find out what diseases may infect seed Russet
Burbank after seeds come to Nepal. Besides, a better way to maintain the competitiveness in
the local market may be setting up some government-to-government program to evaluate the
most suitable price for Nepalese farmers and agricultural companies, and finding out the
premium value of seed potatoes exports to Nepal, so as to maximize the benefits of it. Seed
potatoes exports is still a blank page for China and India. However, it is unknown that
whether they will start exporting seed potatoes in the future, since fully have the capability to
send their seed potatoes to their neighbouring country. Comparing to their gigantic scales of
potato production (42 million MT and 80 million MT in India and China respectively),
Canadian potato production (4,625,871 tonnes in 2014) is just like an ant in the world. It is
also unclear that if the soil and climate can support the seed Russet Burbank to be farmed
locally. The fee of the transportation is unknown, which indicates that further investigation in
logistics company is also needed.
Summary & Conclusion
In conclusion exporting seed potatoes to Nepal is recommended. The project can help local
Nepals farmer grow a better kind of potato and gain a relatively high volume of harvest. The
price of the Canadian potato is reasonable in the global market, which can let Canadian
Russet Burbank remain its competitiveness with potatoes from China and India. By
introducing Russet Burbank to Nepal, Canada can enlarge its value of sales and trade in the
global market, as well as providing more job opportunities in and enlarging the scale of the
relating area, including potato production, packing, storing related apparatuses manufacture,
and transportation. Nepal can obtain more fine-quality seed potatoes and plant them in the
local farmland, so as to improve its agribusiness. Additionally, more Nepalese families can

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enjoy this new kind of potato on their dinning-table, and this can relatively relieve the food
crisis in this country. However, the potential diseases and pest for Russet Burbank are not yet
detected, and the influence on Russet Burbank caused by Nepalese soil and climate still
remains unknown. Further studies on these issues as well as the global challenge are required
before a large scale of seed potatoes are sent to Nepals farmland. The transport fee is also a
subject that needs to be researched on, and an affordable amount should be added on the price
of seed potatoes later.
Word Count: 3358

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Reference List for Part 1.

1. Hyde, G. M., Thornton, R. E., & Woodruff, D. W. (1983). Transactions of the
ASAE. Potato Harvester Performance with Automatic Chain-Load Control, 26(1),
0019-0022. doi:10.13031/2013.33868
2. Main Dish or Entree in Nepali in Nepali Food - Food-nepal.com. (n.d.). Retrieved
November 29, 2015, from http://www.food-nepal.com/recipe/main.htm
3. Marwaha, R. S., Pandey, S. K., Kumar, D., Singh, S. V., & Kumar, P. (2010). Potato
processing scenario in India: Industrial constraints, future projections, challenges
ahead and remedies A review. J Food Sci Technol Journal of Food Science and
Technology, 47(2), 137-156. doi:10.1007/s13197-010-0026-0
4. Nutrition Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2550/2
5. Potato Market Information Review 2013-2014. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2015,
from http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/industry-markets-and-trade/statistics-and-marketinformation/by-product-sector/horticulture/horticulture-canadian-industry/sectorreports/potato-market-information-review-2013-2014/?id=1433875713786#cn_1.1
6. Price, R. R., Larsen, J., & Peters, A. (2007, June 17-20). Objective. Retrieved
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pmnet%20of%20an%20Optical%20Yield%20Monitor%20for%20Sugar%20Cane%2
0Harvesters%20Shortened%20Version%202.htm
7. Russet Burbank. (2013, December 20). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/plants/potatoes/potato-varieties/russetburbank/eng/1312587385873/1312587385874

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8. Toner Farms Ltd. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from

http://www.tonerfarms.com/
9. South Asia: Nepal. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/np.html
Reference List for Part 2.
10. BYEXPRESS. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from
http://www.byexpress.com/index.html
11. China. Potato Annual 2013. Feb 2014. (2014, March 11). Retrieved December 1,
2015, from http://www.agrochart.com/en/news/news/110314/china-potato-annual2013-feb-2014/
12. Iannotti, M. (n.d.). What are Seed Potatoes? Retrieved November 30, 2015, from
http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetable1/ss/What-Are-Seed-Potatoes.htm
13. India potato statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2015, from
http://www.potatopro.com/india/potato-statistics
14. NEPAL AGRO CENTER. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from
http://www.nepalyp.com/company/64225/NEPAL_AGRO_CENTER
15. Port Saint John. (n.d.). Retrieved October 23, 2015, from
http://www.sjport.com/home-2/
16. Potato price india. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2015, from
http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/potato-price-india.html
17. Price of potato in China. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2015, from
http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&Searc
hText=price%2Bof%2Bpotatoes

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18. Vanitha, S. M., Kumari, G., & Singh, R. (2014). Export Competitiveness of Fresh
Vegetables in India. International Journal of Vegetable Science,20(3), 227-234.
doi:10.1080/19315260.2013.789812
19. World Potato: Nepal. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from
https://research.cip.cgiar.org/confluence/display/wpa/Nepal

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