News on Potato Cultivation from India

Last Wednesday in Delhi, potato farmers from Uttar Pradesh handed out free potatoes to the public in protest against the steeply falling prices of the vegetable in Agra.

Within 30 days into potato cultivation this year, growers in Hassan, Karnataka are losing hope of good returns in their field. The poor germination is linked by experts to the lack of rainfall.

Gujarat's Banaskantha district has mashed Agra (Uttar Pradesh) in potato production, taking the No. 1 rank in India.

Despite a fresh crop arriving at the wholesale market in Vashi (Mumbai area), retail prices of potatoes show no decline

Potato shortages put consumers in the Indian State Odisha and the Odisha State government in trouble year after year. Now the Odisha State Government has announced an ambitious plan to cultivate potato in 25,000 hectares of land.

When CIP staff first arrived in Jodhpur things felt familiar. The arid landscape, the water table, and the warm days that fed into cool evenings were reminiscent of Gujarat - India’s most productive potato growing state, except that at Jodhpur and Jaisalmer district runs along the Pakistan border no potatoes were grown.

The West-Bengal government (India) has recently abandoned its proposed potato processing unit in Hooghly's Sheoraphuli after no private company showed interest in the project.

The Odisha State Government’s plan to achieve self- sufficiency in seed potato production has gone for a toss with the National Seeds Corporation (NSC) and National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) backing out of its commitment to produce quality seeds within the State.

In the Indian State of Karnataka, the Department of Horticulture has decided to provide certified seed potatoes to 1,000 farmers for pre-monsoon cultivation on a pilot basis.