Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Nepal Project Final Report
Nepal Project Final Report
Chengting Wu
#0926869
AGR*1110*102
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
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%),
Picture Source:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-andvegetable-products/2550/2
Page 2 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
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
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
Page 4 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
Page 5 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
Figure 7. Top 10 registered seed potato varieties grown in Canada, total area accepted
in 2014 (hectares)
Page 6 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
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.
Page 7 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
Figure 8. Canadian potato farm average prices (Canadian Dollars per tonne)
Page 8 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
Page 9 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
Page 10 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
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.
Page 11 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
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.
Page 12 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
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).
Page 13 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
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.
Page 14 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
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
Page 15 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
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.
Page 16 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
Page 17 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
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).
Page 18 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
Source: http://www.potatopro.com/india/potato-statistics
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.
Page 19 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
Page 20 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
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
Page 21 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
Page 22 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
Page 23 of 24
Chengting Wu
AGR*1110
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
Page 24 of 24