INTRODUCTION

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a dicot plant belonging to family Solanaceae. It is a native of Andean mountains of Bolivia and Peru in South America where it has been under cultivation for over 6,000 years. Potato was introduced into India in early 17th century by Portuguese traders. Potato is one of the most important crops of the world, ranking next only to rice, wheat and maize. Potato assumes greater significance for its ability to provide food security to millions of people across the globe, as it provides more dry-matter content, proteins and calories from per unit area of land and time. Potato is a wholesome food which is rich in carbohydrates, proteins, minerals and vitamins. It is a rich source of potassium and therefore, very good for patients suffering from heart ailments. The nutritive value of potato is given below:

Composition of fresh potato (per 100g of edible portion)

Water(g)	74.7	Iron(mg)	0.75
Proteins (g)	1.6	Sodium(mg)	6.5
Fat(g)	0.1	Potassium (mg)	568.0
Minerals(g)	0.6	Copper(mg)	0.15
Fibre(g)	0.4	Total Foliate (mg)	5 – 35.0
Carbohydrates(g)	22.6	Pyridoxine (mg)	0.13 – 0.25
Calcium(mg)	7.7	Thiamine (mg)	0.18
Magnesium(mg)	24.2	Riboflavin(mg)	0.01 – 0.07
Vitamin C (mg)	14.0 - 25.0	Niacin (mg)	0.4 – 3.1
Phosphorus (mg)	40.3

Source: Potato in India, Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI), Shimla

Area and Production

India ranks 3^rd in area and 2^nd in production in the world. About 365.36 million tones of potato are produced in the world over an area of about 19.28 million hectare. China, Russian Federation, India, USA, Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Netherlands, France, UK, Turkey, Iran are the major potato growing countries in the world. In India potato is produced in an area of 19.07 lakh ha with a production of 414.83 lakh tones and productivity of 21.75 ton per ha as per FAO figure for the year 2012. However, as per estimates of Government of India for the year 2013-14, the production is about 443.07 lakh tones from an area of 20.17 lakh ha. The productivity of potato is highest (50.14 tons/ha) in New Zealand, followed by U.S.A (45.82 tons/ha), Belgium (45.42 tons/ha), Netherland (45.17 tons/ha) and Germany (44.76 tons/ha). India and China even being a major potato producing countries has quite low productivity of 21.75 tons/ha and 16.12 tons/ha respectively.

India produces 44.31 million tons potato from 2.02 million hectare area with productivity of (21.97 MT/ha). (Govt. of India 2013-14). Uttar Pradesh has highest share both in area 6.04 lakh hectare (29.93%) and production 144.30 lakh tons (32.57%). Total area under potato estimated around 1.24% more i.e. 20.17 lakhs ha compared to last year’s area of 19.92 lakhs ha. Total production of potato in the current year estimated less by around 2.28% i.e. 443.06 lakhs MT compared to last year’s production of 453.44 lakhs MT (Table:-1). Around 15-20 lakh MT potatoes are produced during kharif season from 0.80 to 1.00 lakh ha area. The other major states producing potatoes are West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Karnataka. Productivity is highest in Gujarat (29.75 t/ha) followed by West Bengal (26.51 t/ha), Punjab (25.00 t/ha) and Uttar Pradesh (23.90 t/ha).