Potato growers advised to save crop from attacks

MULTAN: The Punjab Agriculture Information Department Wednesday advised potato growers to follow potato strategy to save the crop from attacks.

The potato farmers are asked to water the crop fifteen days before maturity. Potato is the fourth largest crop in the world after wheat, rice and maize in terms of production and in Pakistan it is a cash and lucrative crop that ripens in a short period of time. Three crops of potato are grown in the country. Two crops are grown in the plains, namely spring and autumn and in the hilly areas only one is sown in the summer season. The crop is tolerated from January 15 to February 15, i.e. 100 to 120 days after sowing, agriculture information officials said.

The Punjab Seed Corporation provides seed culture seeds for autumn harvest. The Potato Research Institute, Sahiwal has approved the high yielding red variety "PRI Red" which is resistant to fog, drought and diseases. Introduced by the institute, this new variety and tissue culture methods used in various research institutes are now in the final stages of preparation for sowing of virus free and imported seeds imported from abroad.

Fields of these new varieties of sown seeds should be inspected 3 to 4 times and diseased plants including potatoes should be uprooted. In the same way, non-species should be removed. In early February, when the slow onset of the Aphid attack, the crop branches should be cut. After 10 to 15 days, pluck and sort the potatoes and seed size (35 or 55 mm) and pack them in clean sacks or crates and keep in cold storage. Nowadays, the use of netted sacks is also becoming popular among the farmers.