Neelam Bhatt Shilswal
Potato Farming is emerging as a profitable venturer using Viable Agri-Practices and Collective Cooperative marketing. The Project is under the aegis of the Uttarakhand cooperative development project(UKCDP) supported by NCDC
It’s was started in Bageshwar district in October 2020, since then
M-PACs farmers have experienced substantial changes. the farmers are being continuously motivated towards viable agri-practices of farming to achieve optimum productivity. In March 2021, potato crop cultivation was introduced with the help of UKCDP under the OSV value chain in District Bageshwar amongst 500 progressive farmers. 280 quintal potato seeds were made available to 347 farmers followed by dissemination of technical knowledge and marketing strategies. The facilitation and technical support of SUDHA, which is working as a Techno-Management Support Agency
Earlier, farmers were sowing traditional varieties of seeds and getting less productivity due to crop disease, insect/rodent infestation, and continued usage of the same variety (leading to crop failure), now they were being actively mobilized and encouraged to adopt a newer variety of seeds while being facilitated with innovative practices/techniques to increase crop yield.
Our project successfully addresses these concerns and creates sustainable solutions that provided great economical relief to our M-PACs farmers said, Secretary Cooperatives Shri. R Meenakshi Sundaram, IAS the project is in progress and achieving many milestones at the grassroot level.
For large-scale potato cultivation with selected farmers, the Agronomists/Experts of the organization took the opportunity to train the farmers. The farmers were trained about all the pros and cons to be considered while cultivating, including land plowing, weed elimination, crop rotation, and so forth. At the end of the project, crop cutting data was recorded randomly from these cultivated areas. The project emerged as a true testament to scientific achievement and collective efforts by M-PAC farmers. After harvesting the crop, the team compared the crop cutting data with earlier records and found that the farmers obtained yield estimated to be a whopping 250 to 340 QTL /Ha, i.e. 2 times higher productivity from the same pieces of land due to changes in crop variety and adopting new technology.
The production from the activity was sold to local markets of Kapkot, Bageshwar, and also supplied to Haldwani mandi. The farmers mobilized to sell their production collectively for lucrative returns and a significantly lower cost of transportation. Earlier, where the farmers were selling their produce individually and receiving little to no profit, now the same farmers sold their potato yield collectively and received greater value for the product than ever before.
The unremitting facilitation and timely advice imparted to the farmers regarding accurate nutrition, irrigation, crop health, and more, the once struggling farmers were able to attain improved productivity, which in turn led to increased incomes and profitability from the OSV value chain. The livelihoods of the M-PAC farmers have changed exponentially owing to the successful endeavors by the project authorities at the UKCDP.
The writer is General Manager at Department of Information & Broadcast
UKCDP, Uttarakhand
