More potato acreage needed to boost output: Experts

Experts suggest road maps to Odisha govt for attaining self-sufficiency in tuber production by 2017

With an objective to end potato scarcity in the state, agriculture experts have suggested road maps to the state government for attaining self-sufficiency in tuber production by 2017.

In his suggestions to the state government, Dhruba Charan Pradhan, a former agriculture officer, has said about 38,000 hectares (ha) should be brought under potato cultivation in this rabi season to achieve production of 0.76 million tonne of potato. He has also suggested scaling up the potato cultivation area gradually to 50,000 ha in 2015-16 (including 500 ha in kharif) and 60,000 ha in 2016-17 (including 1,000 ha in that year’s kharif season) to achieve a production of one million tonne and 1.2 million tonne, respectively in these years to overcome the crisis faced by the consumers in the state.

The tuber is now cultivated in 15,000 ha with an annual yield of 0.3 million tonne against the demand of 1.1 million tonne a year for the 41.9 million  population of the state.

The strategies proposed in the programme to boost potato production are selection of patch, beneficiary and placements of indent for seed potato before end of September, availability of standardised seed potato (before October end), completion of planting (by second week of December) and renewal of cold storage/packing by January end.

“All this has to be done to enhance the potato production jointly by the directorates of agriculture and horticulture of the state agriculture department,” said Pradhan.

According to a cost structure analysis made by him, a farmer can earn profit of Rs 32,220 per ha with a yield of 20 tonne per ha with a minimum support price of Rs 7,500 a tonne. While the total variable expenditure is calculated at Rs 1,17,780 a ha, the income would be Rs 1,50,000 a ha. The expenditure included input cost, other expenditure and miscellaneous expenses.

Pradhan has also urged the government to involve village agricultural workers and agriculture overseers under the state directorate of agriculture and food production in selection of farmers and planting works due to shortage of field staffs in the horticulture directorate that looks after the potato production programme.

Training to farmers, sale of subsidised azotobacter and sprayer to farmers, easy finance by bank and cooperatives and buyback arrangements are some of the assistance to be rendered by the government to promote the potato cultivation, he said.

Ganesh Prasad Parida, another agriculture expert has also submitted suggestions in this regard.

It may be noted that the state government has constituted a three-member task force for formulating a long term action plan for production, preservation and distribution of potato in the state to tide over the crisis in future. Unable to meet the required production target, Odisha imports tuber, mostly from neighbouring West Bengal.