Under the umbrella of the World Potato Congress (WPC) driven Declaration of Dublin: Fostering Potato Partnerships for Food Security, each year, a portion of the WPC Platinum Sustaining Partner Membership fees are earmarked to provide financial support for delegates to attend the Congress.
Of the near 100 applications, funding was available for up to 20 delegates to attend the recent Congress in Adelaide, Australia — generously supported by Potatoes Australia and WPC Platinum Partners including McCain Foods, J.R. Simplot, IPM Potato Group, TriCal Group, Snow Valley, Syngenta, WD Potato Ltd., and the Prince Edward Island Potato Board.
One of these successful applicants was Dr. Ratna Preeti Kaur of India.
Kaur works on various research programs at the Central Research Institute (ICAR), a public non-profit potato research institute located in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. ICAR is an autonomous institute under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare of the Government of India. Its primary mandate is to undertake basic, strategic, and applied research to enhance sustainability, productivity, quality and utilization of the potato, and also to produce disease-free nucleus and breeder’s seed of different notified varieties developed by the Institute. These activities are carried out through a network of seven regional stations in addition to its headquarters at Shimla.
India, a sub-tropical country, is the second largest producer of potatoes in the world, producing approximately 60MT of potatoes annually. A major credit for this boost, despite its agroclimatic situation, goes to the remarkable transformation in its potato seed production by both public and private seed producers of the country since the 1990’s.
One of the most significant technological advances in Indian potato farming is the development of industrial-scale seed production techniques. Collaboration with the ICAR and private sector partners has led to the establishment of aeroponic facilities capable of producing minitubers on a large scale. Aeroponics has revolutionized the way potato seeds are produced, yielding up to ten times more minitubers per plant compared to conventional methods. This system has been key to addressing India’s ongoing seed shortages, particularly in high-demand regions.
The technology has also been bolstered by the widespread use of apical rooted cuttings, which are rapidly gaining adoption, particularly in the eastern and southern states.
“The integration of apical rooted cuttings into India’s nuclear seed production program has significantly improved the availability of healthy planting material,” Kaur says. “Several firms have commercialized this technology, helping us meet the growing demand for high-quality seed potatoes.”
Kaur is also involved with Photoautotrophic Micropropagation (PAM), a technique that optimizes the growth of potato plants by creating ideal conditions for photoautotrophy and hardening in microplants. Not only does PAM lead to higher multiplication rates, but it also economizes the process, making it more cost-effective.
The Congress offered Kaur the opportunity to engage with leading researchers, breeders, and industry professionals.
“The networking opportunities were invaluable,” she says. “I connected with experts who are pioneers in the field of potato science, and this has opened doors for collaborations that will have long-term impacts on my work.”
“The exposure to cutting-edge research on diploid breeding and biotechnology was particularly exciting,” she says. “It was also enlightening to see how other countries are addressing the same challenges we face in India.”
Back in India, Kaur has already begun sharing the knowledge she gained at the WPC with her colleagues, agricultural students, and local farmers. She held seminars to disseminate key insights from the event, particularly focusing on seed production technologies and their implications for Indian agriculture. For more information on this story and her research or how you might become a WPC Sustaining Partner to support these initiatives, visit www.potatocongress.org.
The biennial World Potato Congress will be held again in Gdańsk, Poland, June 21 to 26, 2026.