Bottlenecks of potato growers and ways to ameliorate them: Micro level study from kannauj district of Uttar Pradesh

Horticulture sector has become one of the major drivers of growth in the agriculture sector and it share about 30 per cent among total agriculture output. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is considered to be one of the most epochal horticultural crops in the world because of its most affordable and most accessible food, which provide copious health benefits. In Uttar Pradesh, Kannauj district is an abundant producer of the potato crop. The study was conducted in Jalalabad block of Kannauj district of Uttar Pradesh. A simple random sampling method was used to select 125 respondents out of total 1338 potato growers from the selected five villages. The study reveals that according to degree of seriousness of constraints the maximum number of respondents faced constraints like, the constraint under socio-psychological was found most important constraints, i.e. ‘skilled farm workers are hardly available’. Under economical constraints, the most important constraints i.e. ‘costly diesel charges, and ‘corruption of credit sanctions. Under technological constraints, the most important constraints were ‘non-availability of quality HYV seeds. Under transportation constraints, the most important, was ‘indigenous transport-means viz., bullock cart, dunlop, tonga take much time and causes more inconvenience in transporting the products. Under post harvest technological constraints, the most improvement were ‘lack of space in house of potato farmers for storing the products. The suggestive measures to overcome the constraints in potato production technology as perceived by the respondents were “suitable approach for the safeguard of the crop against the animal (blue calf)”. Most frequently opined remedial measures expressed by the respondents and field observation made by the investigator was ensuring the fencing of the farmers’ farm as appropriately as possible