BHUBANESWAR: After successful promotion of sweet potato cultivation in the first phase in collaboration with Peru-based International Potato Centre (CIP), the State Government on Monday signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the international organisation for replication of the programme in four more districts.
Generating advances in income and nutrition through sweet potato (GAINS) is a three-year project (2018-2021) under Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana (RKVY) scheme. As the GAINS Phase I project (from 2013-2017) benefited a large number of farmers in three districts of Dhenkanal, Ganjam and Koraput, the State Government has decided to implement the scheme in the second phase in Keonjhar, Gajapati, Angul and Rayagada districts involving a project cost of `8.46 crore.
The project envisages to encourage orange fleshed sweet potato cultivation which is naturally rich in vitamin-A apart from the traditional white and yellow fleshed sweet potato currently available, said Horticulture Director Bijay Ketan Upadhyay.“It will mainly focus on sweet potato production and value addition for raising incomes of poor farmers, and ensuring their food and nutritional security,” he said.
He said GAINS phase-I received good response from farmers, for obtaining higher yields using improved variety of sweet potato, and increasing of the planting material availability from field nurseries of established farmers in different operational districts of the State.
To increase market demand and popularise the sweet potato consumption for providing better nutrition, mostly focusing women and children, several promotional activities have been planned under this project.
Taking into consideration the high nutritional value of orange fleshed sweet potatoes, its inclusion under school mid-day meal scheme of the state is being considered.
To reduce cost of cultivation, GAINS project proposed to develop a platform to introduce farm machinery like sweet potato harvesters and small scale processing machines for making value added products, especially sweet potato chips and flour.
Odisha occupies first place in the country in sweet potato production with annual average production of 4 lakhs tonne in 42,000 hectares of land. The MoA was signed by Horticulture Director and country manager of CIP Jurgen Kroschel in presence of Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy.