1. Potato Production in Sri Lanka
A.G.C.Babu
Deputy Director (Research)
Agricultural Research & Development Centre
Sita Eliya
Sri Lanka

2. Sri Lanka ·Badulla ·Nuwara Eliya Total area : 65,610km2
Major Agro ecological Regions:
Dry Zone
Intermediate Zone
Wet zone
Major Potato growing districts:
Nuwara Eliya
Badulla
Major Seasons:
Yala Maha
Nuwara Eliya Feb. July Sept. – Jan.
Badulla June – Sept. Oct. – Feb.
·Nuwara Eliya
·Badulla

3. Climate in potato growing areas

4. Potato production in Sri Lanka
District
Area (ha)
Production
(mt)
Seed requirement
Yala
Maha
Nuwara Eliya
Badulla
750
2,200
800
2,700
15,000
38,500
16,000
47,250
3,875
12,250
Total
2,950
3,500
53,500
63,250
16,125

5. Potato varieties cultivated
Percentage
Granola
Arnova
Rudolph
Connect & Carolus
Red la soda
Others (Elmundo,Laperla, Sassay,Amany,Hermes etc.) 80 3 4 2 1 10
Total
100

6. Seed Potato Production
Seed Requirement: 16,125mt
DOA certified seed production: 10%
Imported seeds: 10%
Informal seeds: 80%

7. Facilities Available for seed production
Tissue culture Laboratory
Capacity 100,000 in-vitro plants/year
Capable of meeting national demand
Net house
Limited capacity – 65m2
25,000 RSCC/month/variety
Polytunnels
4000m2
14 mt/yr

8. Informal Seed Production
No proper seed production
A portion of ware potato
Introduced Quality seed production
by providing G0
Technologies adopted by the Research Station
Repeated harvesting techniques:
Soilless growth media tubers/plant
Aeroponic: tubers/plant
Hydroponic: tubers/plant

9. Constraints seed High cost Poor quality
Limitations in seed production beyond G3
Limitations in seed production of new, better varieties
Limited Land for seed production
Limitations in storage facilities
Short term storage
long term storage
storage management

10. Objectives
Use of modern technologies for high quality seed production.
Provide high quality seed producing units
Develop new varieties suited to different agro ecological regions of Sri Lanka.

11. Activities
Production of virus free potato mother plants - in-vitro techniques
Use of biotechnological tools for virus indexing & diagnosis of other disesases
Modifications to existing hydroponic system to increase productivity
Testing & implementation NFT culture
Development of well-organized seed supply chain through farmer organizations

12. ….contd Trainings (Local & Foreign)
Monitoring and diagnosis of major diseases & insects in seed production sites
Certification of seed potato production
Trainings (Local & Foreign)
meristem culture and rapid propagation of virus-free plantlet
G0 production technology based on the culture medium; hydroponic and aeroponics
standard cultivation technology for seed potato; 
late blight forecasting techniques;
winged aphid monitoring technology
certification system for informal seed potato; 
demonstration of standard cultivation techniques

13. ….contd demonstrations for farmers
G0 production
Field multiplication of G0
Storage
Facilitate farmers with necessary inputs
Construction of Hydroponic system
Providing storage facilities
Adaptability testing of new varieties
High yielding & Blight resistant
Heat tolerance

14. Suggestions Increase capacity of G0 production Free availability of G0
Training farmers on G0 production
Awareness programmes – Importance of high quality seed
Research activities for
Productivity increment
G0 production of different varieties
Efficient techniques for disease diagnosis
Commercial scale G0 production

15. Project Impacts & Recommendations
Increased availability of quality seed potato
Increase national average productivity from 17.5t/ha to 20t/ha
Strengthening informal seed production
Towards self sufficiency in ware potato

16. Future Plan Establishment of village level G0 production units
Increase G0 production from 1mn to 2mn tubers