Punjab, a leading agricultural state in India, has emerged as a crucial hub for high-quality potato seed production, significantly bolstering the nation’s food security. The state is revolutionizing its potato sector through technology, enhancing transparency and efficiency to overcome existing challenges.
Punjab’s Unique Agricultural Advantage: The northern Doaba region of Punjab (Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Nawanshahr) offers ideal agro-climatic conditions for disease-free seed potato cultivation. This includes a low population of disease vectors (aphids and whiteflies) and the absence of major potato pathogens like wart disease, nematodes, bacterial wilt, and black scurf. These natural benefits ensure Punjab-grown seed potatoes remain disease-free longer, making them perfect for nationwide distribution, especially to less favourable regions.
In 2022, Punjab produced 30.3 lakh tonnes of potatoes from 1.10 lakh hectares. A substantial 60% of this output is used for seed, solidifying Punjab’s role as India’s primary seed supplier. Potato cultivation also provides a valuable alternative to the dominant wheat-rice cycle, promoting crop diversification and better farmer income.
Punjab is pioneering blockchain technology for seed certification and supply chain transparency. The Punjab Agro Industries Corporation (PAIC) and its subsidiary PAGREXCO, with CropIn Technology Solutions, have launched a blockchain-powered traceability solution. Its objectives include producing certified disease-free seed potatoes in sufficient quantities, ensuring nationwide availability, and boosting farmer and consumer trust through compliance and transparency. This digital system enables real-time farm monitoring using geo-tagged data, mobile data capture, and end-to-end supply chain traceability, with data recorded on an immutable blockchain ledger.
Furthermore, Punjab has adopted advanced seed production techniques like tissue culture and aeroponics/nethouse technology from ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI). This method increases the multiplication rate to 1:50, a ten-fold improvement over the traditional 1:05 method. To regulate quality and prevent black marketing, “The Punjab Tissue Culture Based Seed Potato Act, 2020” and “The Punjab Tissue Culture Based Seed Potato Rules, 2021” were enacted. The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) recently inaugurated its first aeroponics unit for high-quality, virus-free potato seed production.
Despite these advancements, Punjab’s potato seed producers face significant obstacles, primarily in marketing. Price fluctuations, lack of regulated markets, and insufficient demand are common issues.
- Unorganized producers often face shortages of storage facilities (56.66%), high cold storage rent (64.44%), and middleman involvement (63.33%).
- Organized producers report issues like a lack of skilled labor for dehaulming (46.66%), deficient electricity supply (48.88%), and scarcity of canal water (46.66%).
- Contract farming also presents challenges such as price volatility (40%) and difficulty meeting quality requirements (11.11%).
Farmers suggest several improvements for the potato seed sector: incentives for seed transportation to distant markets and better storage facilities, promoting small cold stores, enhancing export channels, ensuring good quality breeder seed availability, and strengthening agro-machinery centers. Additionally, government support and regulation for contract farming are deemed essential. These measures aim to increase the producer’s share in consumer prices and foster a secure and sustainable food system. Punjab’s fusion of natural advantages with advanced technology positions it as a model for agricultural innovation, setting new standards in transparency and food security.
