Potatoes of many varieties have been grown at TADCO over the years, and today TADCO is the single biggest potato producer in the Kingdom, supplying over 65% of the requirements of Saudi French fries factories for locally grown potatoes.
TADCO's potato production has traditionally been spread over two crops per year – (i) a "spring" crop with planting in January and harvest in June / July) and (ii) an "autumn" crop with planting in August and harvest in December / January. In 2004, TADCO produced for the first time in Saudi Arabia a third "summer" crop, and it now has the unique distinction of being one of the few potato producers in the world which can supply the French Fries factories in Saudi Arabia all-year-round.
Our potato yields are excellent, and this greatly helps reduce our Unit production costs, which makes our potatoes competitive for supplying the factories.
The equipment used to plant, grow, and harvest the potatoes includes 6 "Cruz" planters, 5 "Grimme" harvesters, 2 "Grimme" diggers, and 5 "Carulle" sprayers. The potato stores are among the most advanced in the world, allowing for "curing" and storage for up to 6 months. Where possible, environmentally friendly chemicals are used so as not to harm beneficial insects or the environment, and only natural plant extract from eucalyptus tree is used as a sprout suppressant during storage.
TADCO focuses on producing potatoes of the required specifications for French fries factories and chips factories, and is now producing potatoes with a recovery rate of 60%+ for the processing factories, which is also very good for the factories themselves because this lowers their unit production costs.
