Farmers Review Africa March/April 2020 Farmers Review Africa March - April 2020 digital ( | Page 25

ways to manage production in a destabilized
environment.
A recent example of where climate change
impacted potato yields was during the summer
of 2018, when large droughts hit Europe. Potato
production in the Netherlands, Belgium, France
and the United Kingdom dropped due to the
unusually extreme heat and lack of rain, with
the harvest dropping by around 30 per cent on
average.
However, in contrast, other markets have seen
such bumper harvests in recent times that they
haven’t been able to handle the sheer amount
of produce. In 2017, India’s largest potato
production region saw such a harvest than
producers and farmers couldn’t handle the crop,
leaving large amounts wasted due to limited
infrastructure.
In both instances, there has to be a change in the
behavior of the supply chain to deal with potential
circumstances and optimize yields as much as
possible. Dynamic technology-based solutions
must be implemented to ensure any harvest is
grown as sustainably as possible to meet both
the growing demand for potatoes from an ever-
increasing population.
Meeting the customer requirements
Consumers are the biggest drivers of change
within all sectors and industries – and the potato
industry is no exception. There will always be a
want for high quality produce, but a change in
consumer trends, behavior and preferences is
helping the industry’s supply chain to re-evaluate
its production process – it must become more
flexible and agile to meet the characteristics
desired by the customer.
Take the potato chip as an example. Brands have
stringent requirements on the potatoes they will
use, based on knowing what the customer wants.
For potato chips, they must be round or oval, be
no more than 75mm in length, and have less than
a quarter dry matter to make the potato chip look
more appealing to the customer.
French fry brands have requirements too. To
ensure there is no darkened end once fried,
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