Journal of Agricultural Development and Policy

The present study was carried out to investigate the growth performance and instability in area, production and productivity of potato in Punjab using Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) and Instability Index. The study was based on secondary time series data collected from various online portals like INDIASTAT and issues of Statistical Abstracts of India and Punjab for the period of 30 years i.e., 1992-93 to 2021-22. Further, five major potato growing districts of Punjab namely Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Kapurthala and Amritsar were selected for the comparative study of growth and instability analysis. The overall growth with respect to area and productivity was observed higher in Punjab (3.58 and 5.54 per cent) than in India 2.67 and 5.15 per cent whereas the productivity growth rate was higher in India 2.29 per cent as compared to Punjab (1.81 per cent). The instability indices of area under potato were seen slightly higher than that in India but a decline is noticed in both cases during the recent years (2012-2022). The study concluded that there is a need for proper policies and programs to concentrate on increasing the production and productivity of potato by increasing area under cultivation to include non-traditional areas and encourage the farmers to perform recommended package of practices. Extension services should be strengthened in the study areas to educate the potato growers on more use of certified seeds as well as new and improved technologies and innovations.