Marking its foray into the potato segment, dairy major Amul is set to launch a range of potato products, including French Fries and aloo tikkis, in the second week of October.
A senior official with the cooperative said that after milk, potatoes will be the first non-milk commodity that Amul will procure directly from farmers.
Amul will start by directly procuring about one lakh potatoes from close to 2,000 farmers in Deesa and surrounding areas.
"Initially, we will produce 50,000 metric tonne of various potato products. We have hired a processing facility at Mehsana," RS Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets milk and milk products under brand Amul, told reporters.
Sodhi was speaking on the sidelines of 'The Red Brick Summit' which commenced at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, on Friday.
Deesa in north Gujarat is a hub of potato farming. Canadian food processor McCain already has a large processing facility in the region from where it supplies processed products to fast-food giant McDonald's.
Sodhi said that he had received suggestions from cooperative sector leaders that just as Amul has enabled dairy farmers fetch remunerative prices for milk, it should also help potato growers get better price for their produce.
"Our foray into potato products will not only enable farmers get better price but also make products available at 15-20 per cent cheaper for end consumers," he said, adding that they have unparalleled infrastructure to market frozen foods and would try to reach all major cities in the country in about a month.
Earlier, addressing students at IIM-A, Sodhi said India was not only the largest producer of milk in the world but was also one of the largest milk consumers. Low per capita milk consumption, lower ratio of milch animals per farm, lower milk productivity as well as the existence of milk-deficient countries in the Middle East and in the Southeast Asia Market will only catalyse milk production in the country.
