uit India

Potato production in West Bengal is likely to be lower by 10-15 per cent on ‘late blight’ in a quarter of the growing districts.

The horticulture department and Krishi Vignana Kendra had organised a demonstration of spraying pesticides in Narasipura in the wake of spread of blight disease for potato crop under Salagame hobli in the taluk recently.

Late blight, a fungal disease, has attacked the potato crop in Punjab, which is a major producer of tuber crop in the country, raising fear of damage to the crop.

Potato farmers have lost lakhs of rupees due to destruction of potato crop by a bout of blight, yet, they are yet to receive any relief money from the Agricultural Department.

Owing to the fear of blight, many farmers are shying away from cultivating potato. Last year, potato was grown on 50,000 hectares of land in the district, but the crop on 35,000 hectares was affected by blight, and farmers lost Rs. 300 crore as a res...