Odisha to cultivate potato in 25,000 hectares

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jul 20: 

With shortage of potato putting the consumers of Odisha and the government in trouble year after another, the State Government today announced an ambitious plan to cultivate potato in 25,000 hectares of land.

The decision on this context was announced after a review meeting of ‘Potato Mission’ by the Agriculture Department today.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the Agriculture Secretary of the state said that the government will facilitate 1,000 metric tonnes of potato seeds to the farmers.

It must be mentioned here that the ‘Potato Mission’ — that had been launched in 2014 to boost tuber production in the state — resulted in a big failure last year with a 30 percent drop in year on year production.

While Odisha Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Das Burma blamed unfavourable weather condition behind the drop in production, agriculture experts pointed it out to the inability of the Agriculture Department to convince farmers.

Besides, hundreds of farmers who had cultivated potatoes had to sell their crops at low prices given lack of storage facilities in the state.