Farmer's son develops disease-free potato seed

March 24, 2008

Jang Bahadur Singh Sangha, a local farmer who has done his MSc in plant physiology and pathology from Cornell University in the United States, with a specialisation in potato seed, has set up a laboratory in the farms owned by his father, and has been carrying out multiplication or cloning of potato seeds through tissue culture and supplying the disease-free potato seeds all over the country, which he claims would increase the production by up to 25 per cent.

After setting up his lab, Sangha began producing of potato seeds by using the technique in his laboratory for which machines were imported from abroad and some purchased from within the country.

Sangha said that while producing the seed, the basic thing is to produce a seed free from fungus, bacteria and viruses.

Sangha also revealed that through cloning or multiplication, they produce about one lakh plants from a single seed. Sangha, who is the general secretary of POSCON, a federation of the potato growers, says that other seed which they have created are in high demand in various parts of the country.

Sangha thought of applying the technique of Limited Generation Seed Potato Production to produce good quality seeds in the country.