Odisha seeks foreign help to produce more potato

Bhubaneswar: With an attempt to overcome the
frequent potato crisis, the Odisha Government on Wednesday sought the support
of the International Potato Center (CIP), headquartered in Lima, Peru in
helping the State to become self sufficient in tuber production.

The CIP would provide the technical support to the
State under the ‘Sustainable intensification of potato in rice-based system in
Odisha for increasing productivity and profitability.’ The proposed project
would help in encouraging warm tolerant potato production in a short period. This
apart, improved varieties of potato in regions with warm climatic conditions would
also be developed under the project.

Decision to this effect was taken in a high-level
meeting between Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and CIP Director General Barbara
Wells here at the State Secretariat.

As part of the project, steps would be taken to train
potato growers to produce quality potato seeds and adequate supply of seeds to
farmers at subsidized rate of Rs16 a kg while the State Government will take
steps to create adequate storage facilities in rural areas with minimal
investment.

At present, Odisha is producing 2.5 lakh MT of potato
in around 15,000 hectares of land annually against the demand of around 10 lakh
MT.

Agriculture Minister Pradip Maharathy, Development
Commissioner AP Padhi, Agriculture and Cooperation Secretary Rajesh Verma and
senior Government officials of the Agriculture, Co-operation and Horticulture
Department were present in the meeting.