The Potato is a native of the Andean tropical highlands  of  South  America, from where it was taken to Europe in the sixteenth century by the Spanish conquistadors. Within the next 50 years it appears to have been  brought to India by the Portuguese, or  perhaps  the  Spanish. In an account of the travels through India during (1615-1617)  Edward  Terry-chaplin to Sir Thomas Roe, Ambassador of the East India Company to the Mughal Court, states that he found potato being grown "everywhere.........in  the   northern    most parts of the Empire".

The root and tuber crops which include the potato, yams, arums, sweet potato and cassava constitute one of the most important foods of man alongwith rice, wheat, maize and millets. These plants can grow in a wide variety of conditions including marginal soils and produce the highest rates of dry matter, for each day that they grow in the field. They are rich in energy­ giving carbohydrates and also in several essential minerals and vitamins. They are also used widely, particularly in Europe and North America, as an animal feed and in industry for making alcohol,  sugars etc.

During 1983-84, potato was grown in India in 806,000 ha and the production amounted to 12.25 million tonnes. The per hectare production came to 15.2 tonnes and the per caput  production  to  about 15 kg per year. In 1950-51 the respective figures were, area: 2,40,000 ha; production 1.66 million tonnes; Yield: 6.9 tonnes/ha; and per  caput production: 4.6 kg per year. Thus in the last 34 years potato has registered 3.4 fold increase in area, 7.4 fold increase in production, 2.2 fold increase in yield, and 3.3 fold increase in per caput production. This is indeed a most remarkable achievement. Today, potato is grown in almost all major States of India. Two thirds of the  area  under  cultivation lies in the Indo-Gangetic plains covering mainly Uttar Pradesh, Bengal and Bihar. These achievements have become possible due to the sustained accomplishments of potato  research  in  the country.

Organised potato research began in India on 1 April, 1935 with  the opening of three breeding and seed production stations at Simla, Kufri (both Simla hills) and Bhowali (Kumaon hills), under the Indian (then Imperial) Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. Realising the potential of potato in this country the Govt. of India established the Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI) in 1949, with Patna as its headquarters. In 1956, the headquarters were shifted to Simla. At present, potato research and development in the country is carried out by the CPRI and its 12 Research Stations located in different parts of India and the  All India Coordinated Potato Improvement Project (AICPIP), begun by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in 1972. The AICPIP has 16 Coordinating Centres located in the State Agricultural Universities.

The most important achievements of potato research in India are: (i) evolution and release of 23 improved cultivars. The most popular among them are Kufri Chandramukhi, Kufri Jyoti, Kufri Sindhuri, and more recently, Kufri Bahar, Kufri Badshah and Kufri Lalima; (ii) development of a scientific seed production programme in the country. At present, it distributes over 2000 tonnes of breeders seed of various improved cultivars annually; (iii) development  of a method to produce healthy seed in the plains; (iv) survey and identification of important diseases and pests infecting potato and developing suitable control measures  for them;  and (v) development of package of practices for producing seed and table potatoes in different  zones of  the country.

The Department of Posts is pleased to honour this magnificent achievement of Indian Agriculture by issuing a commemorative stamp on 1 April 1985, the date heralding 50 years  of  Potato  Research in India.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India