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The International Potato Centre (CIP)-South Asia Regional Centre (CIP-SARC) is expected to come up in Agra.

More on the news

  • In 2017, the CIP set up its first Asia centre in China, the world’s top potato producer and consumer.
  • CIP-SARC follows the model of China’s regional centre of the International Potato Centre (CIP) established seven years prior.
  • The China Center for Asia Pacific (CCCAP) in Yanqing, Beijing serves the entire East Asia and the Pacific region.
  • India and Peru have concluded the negotiations and a formal agreement will be signed after approval from the Union Cabinet.
  • It will serve farmers not only in potato-belt states of India such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal but also in other South Asian countries.
  • The project is expected to cost $20 million (about Rs 160 crore), of which India will contribute $13 million (Rs 108 crore) and the rest will be funded by the CIP. UP govt. will provide 25 acres for the centre.
  • The proposed CIP-SARC will be the second major international agricultural research institute in India.
  • In 2017, the Agriculture Ministry supported the establishment of a regional center of the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Varanasi.
  • The CIP-SARC is proposed to be developed on the pattern of IRRI-SARC, with the support of the Agriculture Ministry.

International Potato Center (CIP)

  • It was founded in 1971 as a research-for-development organization with a focus on potato, sweet potato and Andean roots and tubers.
  • Headquartered in Lima, Peru.
  • CIP has a research presence in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Current Agricultural Research Efforts in India:

  • Two centres of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) work on tuber crops in India.
  • While the Shimla-based ICAR-CPRI (Central Potato Research Institute) is working on potatoes.
  • Thiruvananthapuram-based ICAR-CTCRI (Central Tuber Crops Research Institute) is working on sweet potatoes.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)

  • It is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India.
  • Formerly it is known as the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research, it was established on 16 July 1929 as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 in pursuance of the report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture.
  • Headquarters: New Delhi. 

About Potato

  • It is the fourth major food crop in the world after rice, wheat and maize.
  • Climate: It should be grown when maximum day temperatures are below 340 C and night temperatures are not above 200 C.
  • Soil: Potato can be grown in all types of soils like alluvial, black, red and laterite having pH range of 6.5-7.5 and electrical conductivity (EC) below 0.5%. Alkaline or saline soils are not suitable for its cultivation
  • Production: India is the second-largest potato producer and consumer in the world after China.
  • Both countries accounted for over one-third of the global potato production.
  • State-wise production: Uttar Pradesh (15 million tonnes), West Bengal (15 million tonnes) and Bihar (9 million tonnes) were the top three potato producers in 2020-21.

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