By: Shariq Majeed,
Horticulture, comprising cultivation of
fruits, vegetables, flowers, mushrooms, etc., holds a great importance in
agriculture, observed K.L.Chadha, former Deputy Director General
(Horticulture), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and
President of Horticultural Society of Indiaduring his visit to Punjab
Agricultural University (PAU) on Monday. He held an interaction with the
scientists at PAU. Those who participated in the discussion included,
D.S.Cheema, Dean, College of Agriculture, W.S.Dhillon, Director, Punjab
Horticulture Postharvest Technology Centre (PHPTC), PAU, Jagtar Singh Dhiman,
Additional Director of Communication, Y.R.Chanana, former Head, Department of
Horticulture, PAU.
"Due to rich content of vitamins,
fibres, minerals and anti-oxidants, horticultural produce holds great
nutritional significance," said Chadha. "Due to high yield potential,
horticulture has a capacity to replace atleast some area from under foodgrains.
Horticulture has been revolutionalized technologically and the benefit of
technology must be made to effectively outreach to farmers."
Discussing strategies, President of
Horticultural Society of India, said that the priority areas should
include gathering correct statistics, thrust on production on quality disease
free planting material and postharvest handling of the produce. He added that t he
formulation of small farmer groups and promotion of cooperative farming should
be encouraged.
Chadha added that keeping in view the
requirement of city dwellers, peri-urban horticulture holds great scope. He
appreciated PAU for developing the need-based technologies for fruits,
vegetables and flowers and popularizing them to the farmers. " Marketing
of the produce is very important as far as horticultural produce is
concerned," President of Horticultural Society of India observed. "Unlike
wheat and rice, the fruits and vegetables have not been put in the frame of minimum
support price. There are many associated ventures like bee-keeping, processing,
value addition, etc. that can help additional income and employment."
President of Horticultural Society of India,
said that a lthough, government has taken many initiatives such as
allocating budget, providing institutional support and promotion of
horticulture, more needs to be done, especially, during 2012 which has been
marked as the year of horticulture. He added that the concept of Apni Mandi was
good and needs to be further improved. He informed that the fifth Indian
Horticulture Congress 2012 is being organized at PAU by the
Horticultural Society of India with the active support of PAU and several central
and state governmental organizations, during November 6-9. He further
elaborated that the congress will have discussions on advances in frontier
areas, mitigation and management of biotic and abiotic stresses, postharvest
technologies, innovative market strategies, etc.
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