Peru-based top potato research centre to set up India wing

SEVEN YEARS after China got a regional centre of Peru-based International Potato Center (CIP), the premier research-for-development organisation with focus on potato and sweetpotato, India is set to get a similar centre. The Cip-south Asia Regional Centre (CIP-SARC) is expected to come up in Agra.

The centre will serve farmers not only in potato-belt states of India such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal but also in other South Asian countries.

The Indian Express has learnt that the proposal to establish the CIP-SARC is on the 100-day agenda of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, which is being prepared for the new government to be sworn in after June 4.

According to sources, officials from both sides — India and Peru — have concluded the negotiations and a formal agreement will be signed after approval from the Union Cabinet.

The Agriculture Ministry is learnt to have forwarded the proposal to set up the CIP-SARC to the Committee on Establishment Expenditure (CEE) headed by the Expenditure Secretary. After the CEE'S clearance, the proposal will go to the Cabinet for final approval.

The project is expected to cost $20 million (about Rs 160 crore), of which India will contribute $13 million (Rs 108 crore) and the rest will be funded by the CIP, sources said. The Uttar Pradesh government will be providing 10 hectares for the proposed centre.

According to officials, the CIPSARC will focus on development of new varieties of potato and sweetpotato, which are climate resilient, disease-free and

suitable for processing. It will offer global science expertise, an extensive global innovation network and global genetic resources, they said.

In 2017, the cip,whic his headquartered in Lima, setup its first Asia centre in China, the world's top potato producer and consumer. The China Center for Asia Pacific( cc cap) in yanqing, beijing serves the entire east asia and the Pacific region.

The CIP-SARC will be the second major international agricultural research institute in India. In 2017, the Agriculture Ministry supported the establishment of a regional centre of the philippines based international rice research Institute (IRRI) in Varanasi. “The CIP-SARC is proposed to be developed on the pattern of IRRI-SARC, which was established with the support of the Agriculture Ministry,” said a source.

Currently, two centres of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) work on tuber crops in India. While the Shimlabased ICAR-CPRI (Central Potato Research Institute) is working on potato, T hi ru van ant ha pu ram based I CAR-CT CR I( Central Tuber Crops research institute) is working on sweet potato. India is world’ s second-largest potato producer and consumer after China.