Potato wafer industry a blessing for Malwa women

The spicy and crispy potato wafers may be just a refreshing snack for some but it holds a greater significance for the women of Malwa as it creates job opportunities for them. Hundreds of women work in the wafer factories to earn their livelihood.

"I have come here form a nearby village to earn. We work for 4 months here and earn about Rs 50 a day," said Rupa who works in a wafer factory.

This small scale business is becoming very popular, giving employment to about ten to twenty thousand people. Also, about 80-100 trucks of chips are sent to different parts of the country daily.

"Malwa potatoes have less sugar content and it does not change its original colour.The potatoes coming from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Gujarat lose their original colour. This is the reason Malwa potatoes attract demand for all parts of the country", said Pushp Thakur, a potato wafer businessman.

The potato waste is a useful fertiliser and is not a pollutant. We have been doing the business for last twenty years and the waste has never created any problem ", said Manoj Sani, another chips businessman.

"I have beed doing potato farming since childhood and never came across any difficulty due to the waste material, " said Radheysham Shadambari, a local farmer.