Fertiliser efficient variety cassava popularisation

Sri Nandakumar a full-time farmer of Kottanad Panchayath is a master farmer of KVK, many OFTs and FLDs were tried in Nandakumars field especially, in tuber crops like cassava and Elephant Foot Yam. Sree Pavithra, a variety of cassava released from Central Plantation Crop Research Institute (CTCRI) is high yielding at low levels of potassium (K) ( K efficient). It comes with excellent cooking quality, good starch content, and low cyanogenic glycoside (bitterness). It is suitable for cultivation in Kerala soils which are inherently low to marginal in soil exchangeable K. The variety was given to Sri Nadakumar to study the performance in the Pathanamthitta district. As this variety performed better than the local variety Ambakadan Sri Nandakumar shifted to this cassava variety. On average 8-10Kg tubers were produced per plant. Around five thousand cassava stems of Sree Pavithra were supplied by Sri Nandakumar as planting materials to farmers.