UP CM Yogi to Centre: Fast-track Peru’s potato research hub in Agra, flags 9-month delay

Centre to benefit ‘potato belt’, South Asia

The CIP, a premier research-for-development organization, focuses on potato and sweet potato research. China established its center eight years ago. Given Agra’s position as a top potato-producing region, a CIP center here would serve farmers in ‘potato belt’ states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, while also supporting South Asian countries, said a source.

The Agriculture Ministry has long discussed establishing CIP-SARC in Agra. Before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, officials considered including it in Modi 3.0 government’s first 100-day agenda. The ministry has now received approval from the Committee on Establishment Expenditure (CEE), headed by the Expenditure Secretary. After Cabinet approval, Agriculture Ministry officials will sign an agreement with Peru’s government to establish the center.

Sources said the entire project will cost $20 million (around Rs 160 crore), of which India will contribute $13 million (around Rs 100 crore), while the remaining will be funded by the CIP.

The proposed centre will focus on the development of new varieties which are climate resilient, disease-free and are suitable for processing. It will bring global science expertise, extensive global innovation network and global genetic resources, said sources.

CIP founded in 1971

Headquartered at Lima in Peru, the CIP was founded in 1971 as a research-for-development organisation with a focus on potato, sweet potato and Andean roots and tubers. The potato crop is native to the Peruvian-Bolivian Andes in South America.

CIP’s China Centre, known as the China Center for Asia Pacific, was established in Yanqing, Beijing in 2017. Apart from China, the centre serves the entire East Asia and the Pacific region.

The proposed CIP-SARC will be the second major international agricultural research institution to set its operations in India. In 2017, the Agriculture Ministry supported the establishment of a regional centre of the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The IRRI-SARC is established in Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency.

“The CIP-SARC is proposed to be developed on the pattern of IRRI-SARC, which was established in 2017 with the support of the Agriculture Ministry,” said a source.

As of now, at least two different centres of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) work on tuber crops. While the Shimla-based Central Potato Research Institute (ICAR-CPRI) is working on potato, the Thiruvananthapuram-based Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (ICAR-CTCRI) is working on sweet potato.

China is the top potato producer and consumer in the world, followed by India. In 2020, China’s potato production was recorded at 78.24 million tonnes, while India recorded a production of 51.30 million tonnes. Both countries accounted for over one-third of the global potato production (359.07 million tonnes).

In India, Uttar Pradesh (15 million tonnes), West Bengal (15 million tonnes), and Bihar (9 million tonnes) were the top three potato producers in 2020-21. The other states having significant potato production are Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.