TO BOOST QUALITY & FARMERS’ INCOME, CABINET APPROVES PUNJAB TISSUE CULTURE BASED SEED POTATO BILL, 2020

Chandigarh, October 14:In a major step towards boosting potato farmers’ income, the Punjab Government has decided to allow production of quality seed potato through tissue culture based technology, using aeroponics/net house facilities, along with the certification of seed potato and its successive generations.The state cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday, approved the Punjab Tissue Culture Based Seed Potato Bill, 2020, to meet the demand of potato farmers for quality seed potato, and enable the development of the state as export hub for seed potato in the country.The move would also help incentivize potato production, leading to greater diversification by bringing more area under potato crop cultivation, according to an official spokesperson.Currently, potato crop is grown across an approximate area of one lakh hectares in the state, generating demand of 4 LMT of quality seed potato. However, there is negligible supply of quality seed potato from Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla. Some of the traders are currently illegally supply the poor quality seed potato by putting the mark of Punjab seed potato on it.Besides demand from within the state, there is also demand for seed potato from outside the state, and since Punjab is bestowed with unique climatic conditions, it is favourable for virus/bacterial/pathogen free production of quality seed potato. Incidentally, horticulture crops are emerging as an attractive alternative under the state government’s crop diversification programme, and even though they cover only 4.84% of total cropped area to produce around 73.50 LMT, their share to the total agriculture GDP of the state is 12.43%.