A COMPLETE GUIDE FOR POTATO FARMING
Potato crop is one of the most profitable short-term agriculture crop. Potato growing is a good, viable business and one can make a huge profit from potato cultivation. Potatoes are a favorite regular on the Indian dinner table. They are as regular as wheat or rice. It is a very important staple food in most parts of the world since it is rich in carbohydrates. The global annual potato production is more than that of all vegetables. Owing to this high demand of potatoes, farmers look upon it as a profitable business. In addition, it serves as a good point to break the crop rotation from grass.
Being a rabi season crop, it is usually cultivated during the months from October to December. This is the time when the weather is neither hot nor cold. Since the monsoons are nearly over at this time, it is an ideal time for cultivating potato crop.
Potato tubers require ample amount of air and water. In addition they need space underground to expand and swell in size as they grow. Therefore, a loose, loamy soil is optimal. Clayey soil keeps the water and air from reaching the roots. In addition, since they stick a lot the tuber growth gets restricted.
The sowing of potatoes has its own importance. if the sowing is not done in a proper way, then the farmer brothers are not able to get the result according to their labor. Therefore, only potatoes of 3 cm to 3.5 cm size or 30 to 40 grams weight should be sown in the form of seed for a good profit. The suitable time for sowing potatoes in North-Western parts is the first fortnight of October. In eastern India, potato is sown from mid-October to January. By keeping the short distance between the plants, there is a competition for food, water, and light in them. As a result, potatoes are grown in small sizes. And if the distance is more, then the size of the potato increases, but the yield is very less. Therefore, keeping proper care of the distance at the time of sowing, the row to row distance of potato crop should be 50 cm and plant to plant distance should be 20 to 25 cm. In this way, a crop of 25 to 30 quintal seeds per hectare is obtained.
Along with this, special care should also be taken for irrigation in potato crop. This crop requires small but many irrigations.It should always be kept in mind that water should never remain in the field. Water should not be more than three-fourth of the height of the pits or drains. Its first irrigation should be done after most of the plants have grown, and second irrigation should be done after 15 days at the stage of flowering of potatoes. If the irrigation system is not proper then it has a bad effect on the yield. In these cases water should be given at an interval of 10 to 12 days. Irrigation should be stopped before 10 days of potato harvesting, due to which the peel of potato tubers becomes hard, due to which the peel does not damaged while digging and the storage capacity of the tubers increases.