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 diseases
Tissue culture laboratory
In vitro mother plants
Micro tubers

12. ….Activities
Modifications to existing hydroponic system to increase productivity
Testing & implementation NFT culture

13. N'ELIYA DISTRICT Seed Development of well-organized seed supply chain
CONSUMPTION
HARVESTING
N'ELIYA
DISTRICT
YALA SEASON
Apr
May
Ju.
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
PLANTING
MAHA SEASON
LOCAL SEED m
BADDULLA
Planting
90% Seed
Paddy Field Planting
IMPORT
PLANTING

14. ….contd
Monitoring and diagnosis of major diseases & insects in seed production sites
Certification of seed potato production

15. …contd Trainings (Local & Foreign)
meristem culture and rapid propagation of virus-free plantlet production
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

16. ….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

17. Suggestions Increase capacity of G0 production
availability of G0 freely
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

18. 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

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

20. Thank you

21. Potato production & seed system
Apr
Mar
May
PLANTING
Feb
Ju.
YALA SEASON
N'ELIYA
DISTRICT
Jan
HARVESTING
Jul
Dec
Aug
CONSUMPTION
Nov
Sep
Oct

22. N'ELIYA DISTRICT Seed Apr Mar May PLANTING Feb Ju. YALA SEASON Jan Jul
HARVESTING
Seed
PLANTING
HARVESTING
CONSUMPTION
Jul
Dec
Aug
CONSUMPTION
Nov
Sep
Oct
MAHA SEASON

23. N'ELIYA DISTRICT Seed Apr Mar May Feb PLANTING Ju. YALA SEASON Jan Jul
HARVESTING
Jan
Jul
HARVESTING
Dec
Seed
Aug
CONSUMPTION
CONSUMPTION
Nov
PLANTING
Sep
Oct
Mar
Apr
LOCAL SEED m
BADDULLA
DISTRICT
May
Ju.
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
HARVESTING
PLANTING
MAHA SEASON

24. N'ELIYA DISTRICT Seed Apr Mar PLANTING May YALA SEASON Feb Ju. Jan Jul
HARVESTING
Jul
HARVESTING
Dec
Seed
Aug
CONSUMPTION
CONSUMPTION
Nov
PLANTING
Sep
Oct
LOCAL SEED
MAHA SEASON m
CONSUMPTION
Planting
Paddy Field Planting
HARVESTING
Oct
Sep
Nov
PLANTING
Aug
Dec
Jul
BADDULLA
DISTRICT
Jan
Ju.
Feb
HARVESTING
May
Mar
Apr
90% Seed

25. N'ELIYA DISTRICT Seed YALA SEASON Apr May Ju. Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
CONSUMPTION
HARVESTING
N'ELIYA
DISTRICT
YALA SEASON
Apr
May
Ju.
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
PLANTING
MAHA SEASON
LOCAL SEED m
BADDULLA
Planting
90% Seed
Paddy Field Planting
IMPORT
PLANTING