04 RESEARCH BRIEF Woman producing ARC (@CIP/R.Reddy) Apical Rooted Cuttings for Cheaper Potato Seeds Advances in ARC technology can save farmers money and lower capital start-up costs for producing better seeds. Background 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 potato- growing belts. Even if farmers want to purchase good-quality seed at such a high price, there is still no guarantee they will be able to obtain high-quality of seed in a timely manner because of the long distances (up to 2,000 km) seed often has to be transported, affecting both their quality and delivery. Figure 1. Apical Rooted Cutting ready for planting. (© CIP/R. Reddy) Objectives gestation period. Second, this low-cost technology needs So, how do we solve the potato seed problem? Two things to be promoted in the production belts so that progressive need to happen. First, a low-cost seed multiplication farmers, farmer producer organizations (FPOs), and other technology should be made available instead of aeroponic small entrepreneurs in potato-growing states can adopt technology, which requires high capital and a long seed potato production. 1 At the time of publication, 1 US dollar (USD) is equivalent to 73.7 Indian rupees (INR). To derive USD equivalents in this brief, divide the number of INR by 73.7. One lakh rupees is 100,000 and equal to USD 1,356. Accordingly, this research pursued four objectives: With an upfront investment of INR 35 lakhs and operating budget of INR 14 lakhs, the scenario in Table 1 could be • To pilot apical rooted cutting (ARC) technology in expensive for small farming entrepreneurs. In that case, different parts of India; farmers can purchase tissue culture plantlets from a • To assess its performance and economic viability; tissue culture laboratory and operate on a smaller scale. • To scale up ARC technology in different potato growing As shown in Table 2, the upfront cost of setting up one states; and polyhouse would be INR 10 lakhs and the operating • To attract youth and women to take up ARC potato budget to produce 10 lakhs (one million) cuttings would seed production be approximately INR 5.3 lakhs. Selling at INR 1 per cutting, the operation will generate a net profit of INR 3.7 Approach lakhs within a period of 4-6 months. Apical rooted cutting (ARC) is a low-cost potato seed Table 2: Cost and Returns of Establishing Polyhouses to Produce production technology introduced in different parts Apical Rooted Cuttings from Tissue Culture Plantlets of India last season to examine its performance and economic viability. Last season (in partnership with Item One-time investment Annual amortization for 10 years (INR) cost (INR) the University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot), we One polyhouse of 500m2 1,000,000 produced apical rooted cuttings in our Bangaluru/Hassan Upfront investment 1,000,000 100,000 facility to produce tissue culture plantlets of popular varieties, rooted cuttings from mother plants, and seed Cost Number Unit cost Cost/revenue/profit tubers from cuttings for further multiplication (Figure (INR) (INR) 1). We also piloted apical rooted cuttings in Assam and Tissue culture plantlet Odisha in partnership with the Central Potato Research 10,000 3 Cost 30,000 production Institute, Shimla (CPRI). Production of cuttings (including labor, coir pith, 1,000,000 0.50 Cost 500,000 Outcome and discussion and tray) Total cost 630,000 Table 1 presents the cost and returns to produce Gross revenue by selling cuttings from tissue culture plantlets. The investment in 1,000,000 1.00 1,000,000 cuttings infrastructure is approximately INR 35 lakhs with INR 15 Net profit lakhs required for the tissue culture laboratory and INR 20 370,000 (revenue minus cost) lakhs for two polyhouses. Assuming a 10-year life span for the tissue culture laboratory and polyhouses, the annual amortized amount is estimated to be INR 3.5 lakhs. The The cuttings are planted in an open field or temporary cost to produce 20 lakhs of ARCs from tissue culture net house for producing first-generation seed and in an plantlets is estimated to be INR 14.1 lakhs. At a price per open field for second-and third-generation seed. The cuttings grown in open fields can be sold to farmers cutting of INR 1, the potential profit is INR 5.9 lakhs. after the second generation, whereas cuttings planted Table 1: Cost and Returns of Establishing Tissue Culture in the net house can be multiplied one more round Laboratory and Polyhouses to Multiply Tissue Culture Plantlets before selling to farmers to make them economically and Apical rooted cuttings viable (Figure 2). Facility One-time investment Annual amortization for 10 years (INR) cost (INR) Table 3 shows the cost and returns of producing first- Tissue culture laboratory 1,500,000 and second-generation seeds from ARC in an open Two polyhouses of 500m2 field. One acre will require 40,000 cuttings to produce 2,000,000 size approximately 400,000 seed tubers with an average of Upfront investment 3,500,000 350,000 10 tubers per cutting. These were results determined by cuttings planted in Hassan (Karnataka), Bhubaneswar (Odisha), Morigaon (Assam), and Shamgarh (Haryana) Item Number Unit cost Cost/revenue/profit (INR) (INR) (Figure 3). Tissue culture plantlet 20,000 3 Cost 60,000 production Production of cuttings (including labor, coir pith, 2,000,000 0.50 Cost 1,000,000 and tray) Total cost 1,410,000 Gross revenue from 2,000,000 1.00 2,000,000 selling cuttings Net profit 590,000 (revenue minus cost) © CIP/R. Reddy Figure 2. Various steps in ARC seed production. (© CIP/Karnataka) Table 3. Cost and returns of producing first- & second-generation seed potato from apical rooted cuttings. Item Unit cost Cost (INR) (INR) Apical rooted cuttings 40,000 (per acre) 1 40,000 Cost of production 1 Acre 60,000 60,000 Cold storage cost of first generation tubers 400,000 5,000 per 100,000 tubers 20,000 Multiplication from first to second generation seeds Cost of production 10 acres 60,000 600,000 Cold storage cost of second generation tubers 80 tons 2,000 160,000 Total cost 880,000 Gross revenue 80 tons 20,000 1,600,000 Net profit 740,000 Figure 3. Potato seed tubers from apical rooted cuttings in Morigaon, Assam. (© CIP/S. Mohanty) In the next season, 400,000 first generation tubers can multiplication on their farms and to begin selling to other be planted on 10 acres to produce 80 tons of second- farmers or organizations interested in producing first generations seeds. These second-generation seeds can and second generation potato seeds. We are partnering be sold to farmers in the following season at INR 20 per with the Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI) and kilogram to generate a net profit of INR 7.4 lakhs. horticulture departments in Bihar and Meghalaya to pilot and demonstrate the ARC technology to larger groups of Scaling up ARC technology in potato-growing farmers. states The decentralization of potato seed production using So far, seven nurseries in Hassan and a few large potato this low-cost technology has the potential to reduce the farmers in Haryana have begun producing ARCs from seed costs by 25-50%. The availability of quality seed at tissue culture plantlets. The numbers in Karnataka and cheaper price will encourage farmers to purchase seed Haryana are expected to rise significantly in the coming rather than use discarded small-sized potato not suitable season. Recently, we provided training to two nurseries for human consumption. This will have significant positive with tissue culture facilities in Odisha to start producing effect on potato yield, ultimately leading to higher profits ARCs in the coming season. They are expected to produce for small and marginal farmers in potato growing states. 500,000 to one million cuttings next season for further Authors Samarendu Mohanty Regional Director for Asia • s.mohanty@cgiar.org Sampriti Baruah Project Coordinator, Asia • s.baruah@cgiar.org Ravindranath Reddy Project Manager • r.reddy@cgiar.org CIP thanks all donors and organizations that globally support its work through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund. www.cgiar.org/funders This publication is copyrighted by the International Potato Center (CIP). It is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License