Kyrgyzstan: Meijer’s Crisping Variety Lady Alicia Harvested as Central Asia Builds Chip Supply
Dutch breeder Meijer Potato shows a Lady Alicia harvest in Kyrgyzstan. It is one more sign that Central Asia is starting to grow potatoes specifically for crisp production.
Dutch seed potato breeder Meijer Potato has published footage of a Lady Alicia harvest in Kyrgyzstan. Lady Alicia is a variety the company positions specifically for crisp (chip) manufacturing. The post does not name the grower, the planted area or the yield.
Meijer highlights four qualities it says make the variety reliable for crisp production:
- stress resistance with low risk in the field;
- consistent yield;
- good storage quality and high dry matter content;
- low waste in processing.
The variety database PotatoPro describes Lady Alicia as a premium crisping variety with white round tubers, low bruising and “very low, stable sugars.” It also notes excellent storage qualities that allow processing late into the season, and lists the variety as not susceptible to common scab.
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A regional pattern
Kyrgyzstan is best known as a fresh-market and seed potato producer, and potatoes there are often called “second bread”. Contract growing for processors is new in the region. Last week, in neighbouring Kazakhstan, the Kendala farm in Zhetysu region reported its first commercial crop of a chipping variety: 33 ha, with tubers going straight from field to factory. That report comes from a single local source.
Why it matters
Crisp factories need varieties with high dry matter and low reducing sugars that hold after storage. Local growers cannot supply that from table varieties. When a European breeder chooses to showcase a Kyrgyz field, it signals that demand for processing-grade seed in Central Asia is becoming commercial rather than experimental. This is a segment POTATOES NEWS will keep tracking.
Photo: Potato chips (illustrative). Evan-Amos / Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
