The ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (ICAR-CTCRI) here is planning to expand to more States a programme which seeks to ensure the availability of good quality planting material of tropical tuber crops.
At present, the Decentralised Seed Multiplier (DSM) programme is being implemented in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha. In the coming days, it will be extended to more States where the CTCRI has centres under the All India Coordinated Research Project on Tuber Crops (AICRP TC).
In 18 States
“We have 21 centres in 18 States. Through them, we are extending the DSM programme to all the major tuber crop-growing States,” CTCRI director G. Byju said. The DSM programme was launched a few years ago to address the shortage of quality planting material.
Farmers, farming groups, cooperatives and farmer producer organisations are the designated Decentralised Seed Multipliers for the multiplication of quality planting material. The programme has a provision to certify them as suppliers of quality declared planting material (QDPM) to various stakeholders.
Over the years, the CTCRI has developed 71 improved tuber varieties which include tapioca (cassava), sweet potato, yams, elephant foot yam, taro and Chinese potato (Koorka in Malayalam).
Plus points
Characteristics such as climate resilience and the ability to grow in low fertility and marginal soils make tubers important in the context of food security and climate change. An important food security crop, tubers are rich in starch, antioxidants, and vitamins.
As tubers are propagated through vegetative means (tuber, root, vine and stem), area expansion poses challenges compared to crops like rice, K. Sunil Kumar, Principal Scientist, Division of Crop Production, CTCRI, said.
Varieties produced
In 2023 alone, 1.39 lakh cassava stems, 17.3 lakh vine cuttings of sweet potato, 150 kg of yam bean seeds, 29 tonnes of elephant foot yam seeds, and 29 tonnes of greater yam, lesser yam and white yam seeds and 2.5 tonnes of taro seeds were produced or supplied under the CTCRI programme. So far, 138 farmers from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha have registered for quality planting material production of tuber crops covering an area of above 200 acres, according to the CTCRI.
As part of aggressively promoting the DSM programme in Kerala, the CTCRI had organised a training session for farmers in Venganoor grama panchayat in Thiruvananthapuram district last week.
