Director's Desk

Though potato is a household name today in India, it came to this ancient land only about 400 years ago during Mughal dynasty. After its introduction from Europe in the beginning of 17th century, it remained an insignificant crop till independence, largely because of poor productivity of introduced European varieties that were adapted to temperate agro-climate and were suitable for cultivation in hills of India as summer crop. The Government of India established the ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute in the year 1949 to harness the potential of this promising crop for food security. The institute developed suitable varieties and technologies that virtually transformed the temperate potato crop to sub-tropical one enabling its spread from cooler hill regions to the vast Indo-Gangetic plains as a rabi crop. It triggered a revolution in potato production causing very fast growth in area, production and productivity during next five decades.