Adoption of improved potato cultivation practices

Cultivation of vegetables and fruits is a viable commercial proposition. With theintroduction of liberal trade policies, prospects for export of fruits and vegetables have improved. Vegetables provide a good source of income to the growers and play an important part in human nutrition. Potato is one of the major vegetable crops of the world. It is an important crop and it can supplement the food needs of the country in a substantial way as it produces more drymatter food. Potato production in India has made tremendous progress only with the development of new technologies in different fields of agriculture. Due to the complexityin differenttechnologiessometimesfarmersfind it difficult to understand, as a result of which they lag behind in the adoption of recommended package of practices. In thiscontext theneed wasfelt tostudytheextent ofadoption of potato cultivation practices. An interview schedule was prepared to collect the data from 160 vegetable growers from the state Punjab. Recommended seed varieties of potato were adopted by 65.50 per cent of respondents whereas recommended dose of fertilizers were used by 45.00 per cent of respondents. About half of the respondents used recommended insecticides/pesticides, fungicides and storagepractices. The data further revealed that majorityof the respondents had low extent of adoption of recommended cultivation practices of potato crop. The data generated through this study can form the basis for planning integrated extension strategies to create more knowledge and awareness among the vegetable growers about the recommended cultivation practices of potato crop.