(THE GIST OF PIB) International Potato Centre

(JUNE-2025)

Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved a proposal from the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare to establish the International Potato Centre (CIP)’s South Asia Regional Centre (CSARC) at Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

It was founded in 1971 as a research-for-development organization with a focus on potato, sweet potato and Andean roots and tubers.
It delivers innovative science-based solutions to enhance access to affordable nutritious food, foster inclusive sustainable business and employment growth, and drive the climate resilience of root and tuber agri-food systems.
CIP is a CGIAR research center, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR science is dedicated to transforming food, land and water systems in a climate crisis.
Its research is carried out by 13 CGIAR Centers/Alliances in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector.
Headquarter: It is in Lima, Peru and it has a research presence in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The India centre will not only serve domestic farmers, but those in other South Asian countries as well.

India is the world’s second top producer and consumer of potato
Major potato growing States: Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.
As of now, at least two different centres of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) work on tuber crops.
While the Shimla-based ICAR-CPRI (Central Potato Research Institute) is working on potato, the Thiruvananthapuram-based ICAR-CTCRI (Central Tuber Crops Research Institute is working on sweetpotato.