Potato (Aloo) is not an indigenous species of India. In the 16th century, it was introduced in the Europe. The Europeans brought it to India. Soon, tuber grew extremely popular in the country and is now cultivated at a large-scale in the north and eastern parts as a cash crop. While UP is the highest tuber producing State in the country, it is followed by West Bengal and Bihar.
Winter climate is suitable to the crop, while better varieties of potatoes are produced in lands of high altitudes. Mahabaleswar in Maharastra, where potato is produced, is at an altitude of 4,500 ft from the sea. Since potato is produced in the root system of the plant, it needs very fertile porous soil with high biological values for giving better yields. It is a starchy food and rich in carbohydrates and other food values.
So far as Odisha is concerned, its potato requirement is far more than it produces. It has to depend on the neighbouring West Bengal to procure about 90 per cent of its potatoes. The State Government did not take any special initiative for tuber production and achieve self sufficiency. Hence, potato is cultivated at a limited scale in a very few areas, while the home grown ones are sweet potatoes. Generally, the red variety is cultivated in Odisha whose shape is round. The oval one is highly perishable, while the rounded and red one lasts longer days. The oval ones require more water than the round ones during cultivation.
During the 1970s, the Nainital varieties of potatoes were brought to Odisha for marketing. Cold storage facility in the State is very poor. It was poorer then. As a result, a major portion of the potatoes that came to the State were taken up for consumption. This led to rotting of the crop in the godowns. Nainital is in the Himalayan tract of Uttar Pradesh and an extremely cold region. So the better varieties of potatoes are produced here than coastal and river based plains. The oval size brown varieties of potato are more productive than the red and rounded varieties. Odisha’s land conditions as well as the climate are very suitable for red varieties of potato. In the coastal region, these potato varieties are taken up for cultivation.
The north east part of West Bengal is colder than its south west part as the former is close to the Himalayan region. Here, the oval brown varieties are cultivated. On the contrary, the river plains and sandy tracts are very suitable for red varieties. The soil of these lands is very porous and loose and there is a lot of scope for the root systems to travel in the soil and collect food for sustenance. Odisha as well as West Bengal are known to be river-based States. There is a need for extensive cultivation of such annual economic crop.
Potato as a whole needs to be cultivated within a temperature ranging from 200 c to 300 c as it is a crop of temperate climate, and does not stand under light temperature. Damp whether harms potato corps. On varying circumstances and climatic conditions, the crop season can be altered. On northern plains, whether the climate is cold and temperate, the crop can be raised during September / October. During October / November or even during December/ January, based on the soil moisture of the cultivable lands, the crop can also be cultivated. Similarly, in altitudinal plateaus, the crop can be raised during June / December / November. Odisha has a sufficient command area for cultivation of potato, especially during the winter, when the climate is very suitable for the crop as the temperature of the climate remains within 300 c. So, intensive efforts for cultivation of tuber are needed to solve the crisis. The administration after consideration of the market of the agricultural products and capacity of production in local environment, should adopt measures to boost tuber cultivation. Government agencies and private agencies should work together so as to encourage the production of the crop at a large scale.
We don’t have required warehouses/ storage godowns to preserve agricultural products so as to meet their scarcity. The Government should divert enough resources for more cold storage facilities in the State.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist)