Bhubaneswar, April 20: Faced with potato scarcity, the government today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Utkal Tubers India Private Limited to augment potato seed production.

The state has been facing potato scarcity every year as its domestic production does not meet its demand. At present, the state produces two lakh metric tonnes of potato as against the requirement of 11 lakh metric tonnes. Hence, the state is dependent on other states, especially Bengal, to meet its potato requirements.

The state had faced a severe potato shortage when Bengal government restricted its supply to Odisha and other states this year and previous year. At that time, potato was selling at Rs 60 per kg in retail market.

The state government has now set a target to increase potato production from the existing level of two lakh metric tonnes to 11.25 lakh metric tonnes by 2017-18.

On December 27, 2014, the state government launched a Potato Mission for planning ahead to avoid tuber shortage in the state. The mission has initiated several measures to make the state self-reliant in potato production.

The task force set up by the state government has estimated that the state will require 1.2 lakh metric tonnes of potato seeds by 2017-18.

However, there has been a big gap between the demand and supply as the domestic production is very low. So, the state government has to procure seeds from states, such as Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

According to plans, 1.10 lakh metric tonnes of potato seeds will be produced in the state by 2020-21. The potato producers will get the seeds at reasonable rate, said the officials of the state horticulture directorate.