BHUBANESWAR : The state government’s ambitious plan for area expansion under potato cultivation to boost production seems to be faltering with cold response from farmers to the highly-subsidised seeds provided by the horticulture wing of Agriculture department.
While the potato planting season (November to December) for rabi crop is going to be over soon, the department has so far managed to deliver only 1.84 lakh quintal seeds to farmers, which is just 56 per cent of the target.
Aiming to increase the area under potato cultivation from 12,374 hectare (around 31,000 acre) cultivated in 2024 to 21,750 hectare (55,000 acre) during the 2025 rabi season, the department had placed an order of 3.26 lakh quintal of certified seeds to the Odisha State Seeds Corporation (OSSC). The seeds were to be supplied to farmers at a subsidised rate of Rs 10 per kg against the actual cost of Rs 42.24 per kg.
Despite massive efforts by district horticulture officials to achieve the target, farmers preferred locally available seed potato as they did not want to pay Rs 20 per kg upfront to get a return of Rs 10 through DBT after planting. “We do not have enough cash to pay double the amount of the subsidised price. We are not sure when the government will refund the subsided amount so we purchased the required seeds from local markets at similar price,” said Sukanta Rout, a potato cultivator from Koraput district.
Echoing Swain, Madhusudan Pradhan of Pipili in Puri district said, “At least 15 quintal of seed potato is required for one hectare land. One has to pay Rs 30,000 upfront to get a quintal whereas he could manage with Rs 20,000 to Rs 22,000 from the local markets.”
District horticulture officer of a coastal district told TNIE that the pressure from the department to meet the target was so much that they have to sell seeds to the farmers at Rs 10 a kg or less by paying the rest amount to the government from their pockets.
Sources in OSSC said that the corporation was ready to supply as much seeds as required by the farmers. The corporation had received indents for nearly 3 lakh quintal of seed potato from deputy directors of horticulture from all the 30 districts. Accordingly, the corporation procured over 2.24 lakh quintal of seeds from Punjab.
“We have despatched over 1.84 lakh quintal to the districts which is 56.62 per cent of the 3.26 lakh quintal planned for supply,” they said.