The government of Odisha has taken an initiative to make Odisha self-sufficient in Potato output. Presently, 70 % of potato is produced by three states: Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Bihar. Odisha does not figure in the first 10 in terms of output.
To supplement the efforts of the farmers, Livelihood Alternatives has launched an initiative where in 100 Days we intend to connect with 100 Potato cultivators -Cultivating Success Together!
The objective is to track the life- cycle of cultivation, document the issues, challenges and success stories.
As part of the initiative, a Workshop was organized by Livelihood Alternatives with the support of Institute of Agricultural Science, SOA University on Potato farming called the “Package & Practice of potato cultivation with pest and disease management “at IAS, SOA. The workshop focused on an ambitious initiative to train 100 progressive potato farmers from various blocks across different districts within 100 days.
The training highlighted essential topics of potato farming such as Seed selection & treatment, irrigation, land preparation, favorable climate and fertilizer & pest management, offering expert-led interactive sessions. This session encouraged by active participation of more than 30 farmers from 9 blocks such as Puri sadar, Satyabadi, Bari, Binjharpur, Nayagarh sadar, Naktideul, Kanas, Kamakhyanagar and Kankahad.
Our vision is to empower 1,000 potato farmers over the next 1,000 days by equipping them with advanced scientific farming practices, thereby contributing to the Atmanirbhar Odisha Abhiyan and fostering self-reliance in the agricultural sector.