Harvesting
Potato harvest is a critical cultural practice. The time of harvest and the method of harvest are some of the critical decisions to be made. The time of harvest is decided by the method of disposal of the produce. If the crop is a ware crop for immediate disposal, then the crop is harvested any time depending upon the market prices. However, if the crop is for either seed or ware but is to be stored then harvesting has to be scheduled depending upon the time of haulm cutting. For processing also scheduling of harvesting is a critical operation because the crop in this case has to be harvested at its physiological maturity and early as well as late harvest impairs the tuber quality.
As regards method of harvesting, generally hand tools like Khurpa is used for harvesting in the case of manual harvesting. A plough is used to break open the ridge and expose the tubers which are then picked in the case of harvesting by animal drawn implements while in the case of mechanical method, specialised harvesters of different types are available which would expose the tubers and remove the soil adhering to the tubers which are later picked by hand.
Potatoes grown on improperly prepared fields are damaged while harvesting mechanically and have poor storage quality. Therefore, proper management of pre-storage factors that affect the keeping quality of potatoes is essential for getting good returns.