VARIETAL ADOPTION PATTERN AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF POTATO PRODUCTION IN SOUTH BIHAR, INDIA

Abstract

Potato is the most important vegetable crop of India and largely grown in Eastern plains of the country.
Bihar is the third largest potato producing state of India after Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. However, productivity of
Bihar is lower than many states due to prevalence of older varieties and limited adoption of improved package of practices
among farmers. Current study was planned to find out the economic benefits of potato cultivation and adoption pattern
of different potato varieties in south Bihar. Primary data were collected from farmers of highest potato growing districts
of South Bihar i.e Nalanda and Patna using survey and personal observation method. Analysis of data revealed that Patna
and Nalanda together contributed more than 15 per cent of potato production in the state. Moreover, red skinned varieties
viz. Kufri Sindhuri, C-1, C-40 and Lal Gulab were mostly adopted by farmers in Patna while in case of Nalanda, white
skinned variety Kufri Pukhraj was adopted by majority (80.6%) of them. Variable cost of potato cultivation was estimated
to be ` 1.32 lakhs per ha in Nalanda and ` 1.06 lakhs per ha for Patna district. Cost of seed potato had contributed
more than one third of total cost of cultivation. On an average, farmers earned a gross income of ` 1.8 lakhs/ha and net
return of ` 61,579/- per ha from potato. The BC ratio ranged from 1.4 to 1.6 in selected districts. It can be concluded that
enough scope is available for increasing productivity of potato in Bihar by large scale demonstration and adoption of
high yielding new potato varieties. Moreover, farmers should be motivated to grow their own seed through organization
of trainings, exposure visits and supply of breeder seed so that seed cost can be minimized to increase economic returns
from potato.