Potato cultivatio?n dwindles this season in Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu

A recent study showing that potato cultivation has been dwindling in Nilgiris, has prompted officials from the Horticulture Research Centre and Directorate of Marketing Intelligence Centre to initiate steps to encourage farmers to cultivate potato in the hill district in Tamil Nadu.

Potato is cultivated in the Nilgiris in about 1500 acres, every three months. However, farmers generally switch to other vegetables once the potato crop is harvested to maintain the soil standard.

According to a survey conducted by the horticulture department, farmers preferred other crops like carrot which is an ideal cash crop.

This is because of the risks involved in cultivating potato in the rainy season as it is vulnerable to changes in weather. The cost involved in cultivating carrot is less than that of potato. While it costs around Rs 65,000 to cultivate an acre with potato, it is only Rs 25,000 for cultivating carrot in an acre.

N Selvaraj, President, Horticulture Research Centre said, "This time the area of cultivation of potato has declined as farmers seem to prefer cash crops like carrot where the investment is low. Also, potato is vulnerable to climatic changes where excess rains and high humidity, expected this season, may affect yield". Carrot seed are cheaply available. This is not the case with potato. Besides, seedlings sometimes need to be shipped from North India, which adds to the cost.