Bangladesh: Disease-resistant Danish potato seed getting popular for higher yield

Danish potato seed variety Sarpo Mira, highly resistant to the deadly late blight disease, is getting popular among farmers of the Bangladesh potato-growing hubs due to its higher output, said farmers and officials. The growers can get 38-42 per cent more output at considerably 20 per cent lower costs by cultivating the Danish let-blight resistant potato variety Sarpo Mira, they said. Giant Agro Processing Ltd (GAPL), a sister concern of Giant Group, imported and developed the seeds for local farmers, said its officials in a recent field visit in Thakurgaon.  Four varieties were imported by GAPL in 2011 from Denmark-based Danespo under a joint venture (JV) in a DANIDA (Danish International Development Agency) B2B- supported programme. After trials by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), two varieties — Sarpo Mira (BARI Alu-77) and Folva — were approved by the government, said Business Development Manager of GAPL ATM Majharul Mannan. “The two varieties have been showing excellent result in terms of per hectare yield, size, quality and production cost in the northern districts,” he said. More