Speeding New Potato Varieties to Farmers: How Apical Rooted Cuttings Are Transforming India’s Seed Sector

Summary: A breakthrough method known as apical rooted cuttings (ARC) is transforming the speed and efficiency of delivering improved potato varieties to farmers in India and Africa. Traditionally, scaling up new varieties has been a slow, multi-year process, leaving farmers with limited access to market-preferred or disease-resistant seed. ARC enables rapid multiplication of clean, early-generation seed, reducing the time to market from six years to as little as two. With this innovation, healthy, high-yielding potatoes can reach more farmers faster, boosting incomes, food security, and resilience. The method also empowers local seed entrepreneurs, bringing seed production closer to communities where it’s needed most.

A new technique called apical rooted cuttings (ARC) is poised to dramatically shorten the time it takes for Indian farmers to access the latest, market-preferred potato varieties. This breakthrough is reshaping the potato seed sector, which has been traditionally dominated by large companies and slow propagation cycles, by providing communities with the tools to produce high-quality seed.

“ARC can be a game-changer for smallholder farmers in India,” says Dr. K.M. Indiresh, Vice Chancellor at the University of Horticultural Sciences, Karnataka. “It lowers costs, improves access to clean seed, and speeds the introduction of new varieties.”

The Challenge: Slow and Centralized Seed Systems

Potato is India’s third most important food crop after rice and wheat, and the country is now the world’s second-largest potato producer. Yet one of the most significant barriers to further growth is access to quality seed.

Traditionally, once a new variety is approved, it takes six or more years for enough seed tubers to be multiplied for commercial distribution. Centralized seed companies, mainly located in Punjab, utilize high-tech aeroponics to produce plantlets; however, the process is expensive, and transporting seeds thousands of kilometers to farmers in southern or northeastern India incurs additional costs.

As a result, seed already accounts for about 50% of production costs for farmers. Many cannot afford it and instead reuse old seed year after year, which leads to degeneration, disease, and declining yields.

The Solution: Apical Rooted Cuttings

ARC offers a low-cost, low-tech alternative that puts seed production into local hands—and drastically speeds up multiplication. Using this technique, tissue culture plantlets are produced in sterile conditions to ensure they are free of disease. Each plantlet can generate over 100 apical rooted cuttings in a simple screenhouse. Farmers or seed entrepreneurs purchase these cuttings and plant them in the field, where each cutting produces 10–20 or more tubers. After just two multiplication cycles, the tubers are ready to be sold as certified seed, compared to the three or four cycles required with conventional methods.

With these innovations, new potato varieties can now reach farmers in two years instead of six, a vast improvement in an era when climate change and market preferences demand faster innovation.

Growing Impact Across India

The International Potato Center (CIP), which introduced ARC to India in 2019, is already seeing promising results. Projects are underway in Haryana, Karnataka, and Meghalaya, helping decentralize seed production to regions that are traditionally underserved.

“ARC won’t replace aeroponics or mini-tubers, but it complements them,” says Jagana Rao, Project Manager at CIP India. “It gives more options to vulnerable communities, especially where infrastructure is limited.”

In Meghalaya, a remote, landlocked state where potato is an indigenous crop, ARC has enabled farmers, especially women, to become seed entrepreneurs. Through collaboration with IFAD’s Megha LAMP project, CIP has set up screenhouses and trained young people in tissue culture and ARC methods.

“ARC is a woman-friendly technology,” says Meera Mishra, IFAD India’s Country Coordinator. “It allows smallholders to take control of their seed supply.”

One of those smallholders is Lakshima Devamma, a farmer in Karnataka. Without owning land herself, she began producing ARC cuttings alongside her vegetable business. In one year, she scaled from 300,000 to a projected 1 million cuttings, providing income for her family and employment for local women.

“This has changed my life,” says Devamma. “I can now invest in my daughter’s education and support other women in my community.”

Quality and Traceability

ARC also offers an important advantage in seed quality. The cuttings are derived from early-generation plantlets, ensuring the seed remains disease-free and true to type.

In Haryana, trials are underway to develop a quality mark and digital tracking system for ARC-produced seeds, thereby providing farmers with greater confidence in the quality of what they are buying.

Toward a More Resilient Future

The Indian government is taking notice of ARC’s potential to improve both yield and resilience. Clean, affordable seed can boost potato yields and incomes by as much as 50%, while also helping farmers respond to climate-related stresses such as drought and emerging pests.

“ARC is still new here, but the potential is huge,” says Ravindra, Project Manager at CIP India. “Already, CIP’s work with ARC globally has reached 50,000 farmers, and we see the same opportunity in India.”

By accelerating the delivery of improved varieties, ARC is ensuring that Indian farmers, especially in underserved regions, can remain competitive, meet changing consumer demands, and build more sustainable and resilient livelihoods.

Return to the 2025 GAP ReportTM Partner Stories