Apical rooted cuttings for cheaper potato seeds. Research Brief 04

Abstract

The potato sector in India continues to face serious problems accessing good-quality planting materials at affordable prices for small and marginal farmers in many potato-growing states. Because seed accounts for 40-50% of the total cost of production, this is a huge burden for small farmers. In the coming season, seed costs will be even higher—more than one lakh rupees1 per hectare. The high cost of seed has led some small farmers to use discarded small-sized potato as seed in the potatogrowing belts.