Success Story of Cultivation of Potato

Introduction

• Smt. Kaden Lepcha is a marginal farmer from Passingdang. She is an honest and hardworking lady. She cultivates crops like fruits, vegetables, buckwheat and pulses. Her source of income is from fruits, vegetables and pulses that she sells at local market. She has been constantly attending trainings and demonstration conducted by ATMA/Agriculture Department. But the interventions through ATMA have transformed her socioeconomic status.

Training

• ATMA, North Sikkim observed her farming conditions and initiated a farm school on potato based on the participatory mode in collaboration with Agriculture Deptartment. She took this opportunity as she had the land. She procured the potato tuber for cultivating in her farm. She took the challenge and followed the scientific management of potato, starting from field preparation to harvesting as per recommendation of resource personnel and experts. She always stayed in contact with KVK scientists, KCC etc. for taking the taste of updated technology.

Achievemnts

• ATMA interventions and developmental interventions for imparting technology to both the farm school teacher and the agriculturist supported her and her fellow farmers in learning and adopting the scientific cultivation of potato leading to increased income and net return . After the intervention, the she got an increased yield of 15 quintals as compared to 8 quintals through traditional practice of cultivation.

Importance for farmers

• Capacity building and training support provided by ATMA along with her enthusiasm and timely appropriate institutional interventions raised her stature as a progressive farmer of the village within a short span of time. The use of the above technology proved to be useful as the farmers were able to get a good production and net return from the crops cultivated in comparison to the earlier times.

Source : Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare