Department of Horticulture Encouraging Farmers for Production of Quality Potato Seed
Bahadurjeet Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ Rupnagar, February 7,2026
The Department of Horticulture, Rupnagar, is making continuous efforts to bring the potato cultivation area in the district under quality potato seed.
Sharing this information, District Head Dr. Paramjit Singh, Assistant Director Horticulture, Rupnagar, stated that potato is one of the most important vegetable crops and the area under potato cultivation in the district is the highest among other horticulture crops. However, since this area is not covered under certified seed, potato productivity remains low and the quality is also not up to the desired standard.
He further added that due to lack of awareness, farmers do not give due importance to the use of quality potato seed for potato production. To address this issue, the department, under the National Horticulture Mission scheme, organized a one-day exposure visit for farmers from Blocks Rupnagar, Nurpur Bedi, and Sri Anandpur Sahib to the Centre of Excellence for Potato at Dhogri, Jalandhar.
Dr. Chaturjeet Singh Rattan, Horticulture Development Officer (Vegetables), informed that successful potato cultivation largely depends on the quality of seed. The use of modern technologies such as tissue culture and aeroponics for producing disease-free, especially virus-free, potato seed has become an essential need of the present time. He said that the main objective of this exposure visit was to create awareness among farmers about these advanced technologies being used at this centre.
While guiding the farmers during the visit, he explained that the department has established a tissue culture laboratory at this centre, where potato plantlets are being produced. These plantlets are then supplied to farmers for the production of mini tubers through aeroponic units and net houses. On this occasion, farmers were also shown the aeroponic unit, net house, small cold storage facility, and modern machinery available at the centre.
He appealed to farmers that, keeping in view the demand for potato seed in various states of the country, they should focus on producing seed potato instead of table potato, so that higher profits can be earned through the sale of quality potato seed. He further informed that under the National Horticulture Mission scheme, 50% subsidy is available for net house units required for the production of mini tubers from potato plantlets. Farmers were urged to take maximum benefit of this scheme.
On this occasion, Project Officer Dr. Damandeep Singh, Dr. Bharat Bhushan, Horticulture Development Officer, Shri Anandpur Sahib, Dr. Yuvraj, Horticulture Development Officer, Nurpur Bedi, along with Sub Inspector Makhan Singh and Sumesh Kumar were also present.
