Context:
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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