KEY ROLE

Scotland’s worldrenowned potato scientists are set to play a key role in the development of a new £3 million research facility to be built in China – home to the world’s largest potato industry.

It follows a visit to Potatoes in Practice (PIP) last year by China’s self-styled “King of Potato”, Liaing Xisen, pictured below – whose business accounts for almost one third of the country’s huge potato crop.

Discussions between his head scientist, Dr Hu, and sector specialists at the James Hutton Institute and other Scottish researchers were set to take place this week following this year’s PIP with the aim of thrashing out how the joint potato laboratory would be set up and function.

Professor Ian Toth of the JHI said that becoming involved in the new laboratory in China would offer considerable opportunities for Scottish scientists to share ideas, techniques and research with their counterparts in Asia: “And while this arrangement represents a significant stepping stone, such international co-operation is also likely to open up access to more research funding from UK sources, both government and commercial.”

He added that a highlevel delegation of scientists from India – which stood second only to China in terms of potato production – was also visiting the event to see how research opportunities could best be explored.