Seed Selection

• Potato growers should do positive selection of growing plants to obtain own seed for planting the following season. This is a good short term alternative
• A good crop starts with good seed.
• Inspect seed for disease symptoms
• Infected plants were selected and removed from stock
• Healthy looking plants were marked with a stick
• Use disease-free seed
• Size of seed potato should be of chicken-egg size
• Obtain fresh planting seed every 3 seasons
• Number of sprouts should be at least 4

 Farmers grading seed Potatoes  

prouted seed Potatoes

Land Preparation

Land Preparation Practices:

• Land set aside for potato production should Not have been grown with another solanaceous crop for 2 years to control soil organisms e.g. nematodes and diseases
• Soils should be ploughed thoroughly to eliminate grasses, weeds, clods and to allow aeration
• Make raised ridges at about 30cm high off the ground
• Furrows are made in which the seed tubers will be planted
• Remove other plants in the field in order to avoid spread of diseases
• Incorporating crop residues in the farm land can significantly increase the soil organic content