By TC News Desk
Agartala, 18th November 2024: Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Ratan Lal Nath today said that Tripura will become self-reliant and self sufficient in potato seed production by 2027-28.
Minister Nath said this this during a review meeting today. Minister Nath highlighted the bright prospects for horticulture in Tripura.
“We are taking new initiatives. For instance, we are now cultivating avocado. The Central Government also believes that Tripura has great potential in horticulture. We are emphasizing its importance and working to increase farmers’ incomes. Today, we held a review meeting, and the budget has allocated funds for horticulture. A budget of ₹130 crores has been sanctioned for this department. Our main aim is to achieve self-reliance in horticulture,” said Minister Nath.
He further stated that Tripura aims to become self-reliant in potato seed production by 2027-28.
“We have adopted the True Potato Seed (TPS) system, which allows us to cultivate potatoes. This system is not available elsewhere. Using this method, we can grow 30 MT of potatoes per hectare. On the other hand, with the Apical Rooted Cutting (ARC) system, which we started last year, we found that production reaches around 60 to 65 MT per hectare. Farmers are happy with this system, and the availability of seeds has quadrupled. If we continue this progress, we will achieve self-reliance in potato seed production by 2027-28. Due to recent floods, we are currently providing potato seeds at a reduced cost,” he explained.
