Environmental Impact Assessment of Potato Cultivation in Northern India

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a staple food crop and a major agricultural product in the northern part of India. However, the provinces are confronted with issues such as water scarcity, nitrate contamination, and plant disease outbreaks. Potato production has also imposed a significant environmental burden, especially when we consider the usage of resources and the environmental impact of the production of fertilizers, pesticides, and electricity. The cradle to gate approach was used, which included agricultural activities as well as machinery used, time of service, amount of seed potatoes, fertilizers, pesticides, used gasoline, and water. The Sima Pro version 9.0 along with CML 2 baseline 2000 method were used to assess the environmental correlations of all the inputs and outputs included in the LCA research and estimate their possible environmental impact. The results revealed that the fertilization phase had the highest negative impact on the environment. In the present study, some agriculture practice approaches are recommended while potato production includes environmental thresholds using agri-environmental indicator scores and their relationships.