Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has decided to revamp the Potato Mission to help farmers boost the tuber production.
Speaking to media persons on Saturday, Agriculture Minister KV Singhdeo said Reiterating the government was committed to increase potato production in the state. In view of this, the tenure of the Potato Mission has been extended for three more years, he added.
Critcising the previous BJD government for lackadaisical attitude towards the Mission, the minister said it lacked the vision and interest of farmers in implementing the scheme. While the potato’s harvest season is January, the BJD government was supplying seeds to the farmers in this month to start cultivation. It led to the Mission’s faiure, he added.
“In order to streamline the Potato Mission, the government will procure high-yield varieties of seeds from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. The seeds will be supplied to the farmers in the first week of November,” he said.
Besides, more cold storages would be set up at sub-division level on public private partnership (PPP) mode to enable the farmers to preserve their potato harvest, Singhdeo said.