Identifying key factors to improve productivity and reduce environmental impact of potato farms in West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) production in Indonesia has increased significantly in recent years, with a total annual production of 1.3 million tons. Although the acreage of potatoes is increasing relatively, the productivity of potatoes remains stagnant and is relatively low, around 16-17 tons per ha. A series of studies with the objective to identify key factors associated with potato cultivation and to evaluate of existing farmers’ practices were carried out in the main potato-producing areas i.e. Pangalengan and Garut, West Java during five consecutive production seasons starting from the dry season of 2013 to the dry season of 2015. In each sub-district, ten potato farmers growing cv. Granola and/or Atlantic were selected resulting in 40 participating farmers. A substantial variation of the observed yields was found for both varieties and regions, mainly due to seed quality. The supply of nitrogen (N) and phosphate (P2O5) from organic and chemical fertilizers of 400 kg N and 581 kg P2O5/ha outreached results of local experiments in obtaining optimal yields. Farmers applied much more active ingredient (AI) per spray, up to 6 times and used more than 500 l of water per spray to control late blight, while experiments showed the spray volume can be reduced by 10-20% without loss of efficacy. The key factors identified in this study to stimulate potato development and productivity and reduce environmental impact in the areas were seed potato quality, fertilizer use efficiency and late blight control.