Potato is an important vegetable crop in India and Bangladesh, where it is grown predominantly by resource limited farmers over 1.4 million hectares in these countries. India produces about 23 million tons of potato. In addition to domestic consumption, India exports a very limited quantity of potato (30,000 tons in 2002). From 1955 to 1985, the area planted increased from 25,900 to 111,300 ha in Bangladesh with an average annual growth rate of 10%.

Challenges: India faced losses of over $236 million in recent years due to late blight disease. In Bangladesh, to control the disease, farmers spray fungicides three or more times per season. More than 400 tons of fungicide is used to fight Late Blight but the damage from the disease nonetheless runs to $43 million in direct losses in Bangladesh.

Objective: To develop transgenic local potato varieties resistant to late blight disease.

Potential Benefits: Transgenic potato would reduce the combined direct loss of $ 280 million in India and Bangladesh.

Countries for deployment are India and Bangladesh.

Collaborators:
University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

India:
Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI), India

Bangladesh:
Tuber Crops Center (TCS)
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI)