Potato Variety Sound in South Africa

South Africa has 11 different regions where potatoes are planted, each one of those regions has its own climate, soil types and other challenges. To find a cultivar that meets most of these standards is already a challenge in itself. To select and develop a cultivar for the South African market, all of the following are important to keep in mind:

• yield
• disease resistance
• market needs
• skin quality
• shelf life
• and stress tolerance

South African customer FPD planted the first mini tubers of Sound in August 2017. The variety stood out right from the start. It wasn’t until they harvested that planting in January 2018, in temperatures of 41⁰C, that they knew that they were on to something. Sound towered out over the other 9 Cultivars that were planted for development on the same pivot. The variety could handle the heat and the tubers were very impressive concerning size and quality. For the next couple of years, FPD planted trials all over the country for the Table market as well as Industry. They noticed that with more experience, their trust in this cultivar was reinforced more and more. 

 Potato variety Sound has the following attributes making it a very competitive cultivar in South Africa: 

• Sound gives a constant above average yield of about 70 tons per hectare.
• Sound has predominantly big or large sized, uniform tubers.
• Excellent skin quality, even under very stressful circumstances.
• Sound’s French fry quality is excellent and can be used as a back-up in the factories when there are shortages and on the Fresh Produce markets. The informal buyers (Fish & Chip stores) are very impressed by its size and French fry quality.
• Sound keeps its frying quality even if it has been laying for 3 months before getting harvested and sent to the markets.
• Sound has a very strong plant and good resistance to late blight.
• Even though Sound grows very large tubers, it hasn’t had any problems with hollow hearts.

Sound has a very high Market Index. That means that your income will be much higher on the Fresh Produce market, because of the high percentage large and skin quality, than that of another cultivar that might have had the same yield or maybe a bit higher, but has more mediums and smalls and second or third grades. Sound has less smalls and second or third grades.

A good product markets itself. Farmers have been talking about Sound from the start. Sound is currently being planted in most growing regions of South Africa and there’s a huge demand for seed. It’s a very competitive variety and everyone is very excited about Sound’s future in South Africa. FPD knows they have something special, because the chance of a cultivar making such big waves doesn’t come along every day.