How One French Fry Variety Turned Gujarat Into India's Processing Potato Hub

Before India had a domestic French fry industry, fries served by McDonald's in the country were imported, an arrangement Sachidanand Madan's account describes as unsustainable. McCain's response, encouraged by McDonald's, was to build a processing plant in Gujarat in 2006 and grow two varieties its agronomy team had selected after eight years of research. According to Sachidanand Madan, those two varieties turned out to be poor yielders and poor storers, leaving the new plant without a reliable local supply of processing-grade potatoes.

The pivot came through a recommendation to try Santana, a variety Sachidanand Madan says was popular in Egypt and used by Farm Frites for high-quality fries, but not widely grown in Europe or North America at the time. Devendra Kumar, described as GM Agronomy for McCain's India, is credited with agreeing to import the variety and organize its rapid multiplication, and with his team perfecting its agronomy using micro-irrigation. Sachidanand Madan frames this as a joint effort layered on top of a Gujarat government program supporting micro-irrigation, cold storage, and electricity access for growers.

The agronomic payoff Sachidanand Madan describes is substantial. Santana is reported to now produce upwards of 50 MT/ha of storable, high-quality potatoes, with better-performing farmers reaching roughly 70 MT/ha. Set against India's national average of 28 MT/ha, the gap illustrates why a variety-and-infrastructure combination, rather than either alone, is credited with making India cost-competitive as a fry-potato source.

By 2023, Sachidanand Madan describes Gujarat as India's French fry capital, with processors including Hyfun, Iscon Balaji, and Amul operating plants and expanding capacity, still unable to keep pace with export and domestic demand. Higher returns from Santana are described as enabling growers to mechanize, build modern storage, and stick to a single 90-to-100-day crop cycle that helps maintain soil health.

STET, described as the owner of the Santana variety, is credited with licensing it to processors for a small royalty rather than restricting it to a single buyer, a structure Sachidanand Madan presents as central to the variety's spread across Gujarat's processing sector. Technico, an ITC Group company, is described as having grown in size and profitability alongside rising seed volumes, with India's forex earnings increasing as fry exports expand.

Sachidanand Madan closes his account on a personal note: Peter and Jaap, described as representing STET, visited his home to present a custom statue marking their role as what he calls the "Santana Ambassador." The piece also offers a tribute to Devendra Kumar, crediting his agronomic work with reshaping Gujarat potato growing for both French fries and crisps.