Problem Diagnosis and Research Prioritisation of Sweet Potato in India

Abstract

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is one of the world’s most important food crops in terms of human  consumption, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Asia and the Pacific Islands. The major  sweet potato growing countries are China, Uganda, Nigeria, Indonesia and Vietnam. In India, it is  cultivated in many states, but a relatively more concentration of this is found in Odisha, Uttar Pradesh,  Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. It is cultivated in an area of 0.113 m ha in India in various types  of production systems. In order to have need based problem oriented research programmes on sweet  potato and to utilise the limited resources effectively, an attempt was made to diagnose the problems  and prioritisation of the researchable issues aimed to solve the problem. Problem diagnosis of sweet  potato was carried out in Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Kerala using participatory appraisal  tools like key informant technique and focused group discussion. The major problems diagnosed were  (i) Sweet potato is suitable for kharif only, difficult to cultivate in rabi in view of other competitive crops  like potato, carrot etc. (ii) Competitive crops like vegetables are remunerative than sweet potato(iii) Lack of appropriate high yielding varieties (iv) Hybrid varieties are prone to sweet potato weevil  (SPW) and (v) SPW menace, if harvested late (after 120 days). Based on the problems, 53 researchable  ssues were identified initially, which were subjected to judges rating for their importance, which  resulted in narrowing down to 15 issues. These issues were analysed for Net Present Value (NPV),  Benefit:cost Ratio (BCR), Internal Rate of Returns (IRR) and issues were prioritised as follows  (i) Seasonal effects on tuberisation (ii) Germplasm collection (iii) Technology transfer (iv) Quality seed  production, distribution and seed system studies (v) Stable high yield weevil tolerant varieties  (vi) Integrated Pest Management (IPM) of SPW and (vii) Lowering the cost of production and (viii)  Exploring exclusive value added products.