New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the 3rd Global Potato Conclave tomorrow at Gandhinagar, Gujarat through video conferencing.
The Prime Minister is expected to take an overall view of the achievements and opportunities in the area of potato research, trade and industry, and value chain management and set a roadmap for the decade.
The conclave will provide an opportunity to bring all stakeholders at one common platform so that all the issues are discussed and future plans are made involving everyone related to the potato sector.
This will be a unique event to expose different stakeholders of the country to the frontiers of knowledge and innovations in potato research.
The present conclave is the third in the series. Minisry of Commerce today said that in a gap of every ten years, it is necessary to work out the achievements in potato sector and set a roadmap for forthcoming decade.
In this direction, during last two decades, two Global Potato Conferences were organized during 1999, and 2008, the ministry said in a release.
Gujarat is one of the leading producers of Potato in the country.
In the last eleven years alone, while the area under potato in India, has increased by 19%, it has increased by about 170% in Gujarat (49.7 thousand ha in 2006-07 to 133 thousand ha in 2017-18).
With a productivity of more than 30t/ha, Gujarat is holding the No. 1 position in India for last one decade. The State uses modern methods of agriculture like sprinkler and drip irrigation for cultivation.
The state also has the best of the cold storage facilities and linkages and is a hub for major potato processing industries in the country.
In addition, most of the potato exporters are also based in Gujarat. These have led to emergence of the state as a major potato hub in the country.
In the light of this the 3rd Global Conclave is being held in Gujarat.
The Conclave is being organized by Indian Potato Association (IPA) in collaboration with Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, and ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla and International Potato Center (CIP), Lima, Peru.
