1Department of Agriculture, Government of West Bengal, 17, S.P. Mukherjee Road, Kolkata-700 025, (West Bengal).
2International Potato Center (CIP), SWA Region, New Delhi-110 012.
3International Potato Center (CIP), Lima, (Peru).
4Central Potao Research Station, Patna-801 506, (Bihar).
Potato production in West Bengal, India has increased significantly in the recent years. It is the second crop in an increasingly intensive three-crop sequence that starts with wet season rice. A study on sustainability of potato production in rice based cropping sequences was initiated in two intensive potato growing districts (Hooghly and Burdwan) of West Bengal. The study was conducted jointly by the Agriculture Department of the Government of West Bengal, the International Potato Center (CIP) and the Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI). The present paper aims to analyze the productivity of potato under irrigated conditions in the dominant aman rice (Kharif or Monsoon) potato-boro (Summer) rice and the aman rice-potato-sesame cropping systems and associated constraints in West Bengal. The analysis is based on participatory research for a period of three years, in nine locations of Hooghly and Burdwan districts. The study reveals that under irrigated conditions, the aman rice-potato-boro rice sequence is more profitable and sustainable compared to the aman rice-potato-sesame sequence.
