Atmanirbhar Clean Plant Program- Govt Plans 10 ‘Clean Plant Centres’ To Boost Fruit Yield

With demand for foreign plant materials for apples, avocados, and blueberries increasing over the years, the centre plans to establish ten 'Clean Plant Centres,' modeled after those in developed countries such as the United States, Netherlands, and Israel, to boost domestic production of the selected crops.

The "Atmanirbhar Clean Plant Program," introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2023–2024, will include the establishment of these centres.

In India, there are no Clean Plant Centers, according to a source in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Ten centres would reportedly be built with a budget of Rs 2,200 crore over the following seven years, till 2030, for fruit crops including apple, walnut, almond, grapes, mango, and pomegranate, among others.

The source emphasized the importance of the programme by stating that it is extremely difficult to obtain disease-free and genuine planting materials for horticultural crops in India. Importing plants takes time because the plants must be quarantined for two years. According to the source, this period will be reduced to six months following the establishment of the Clean Plant Centres. The Clean Plant Centres, according to the source, will provide disease diagnostics, therapeutics, plant multiplying, and mother plant generation services.

The Center will provide complete funding for the centres. According to the source, it will be carried out in a PPP method in collaboration with academic organizations, agricultural institutions, and commercial sector partners, with the National Horticultural Board (NHB) serving as the program's linchpin.

Over the years, there has been a rapid increase in the need for imported planting material for different fruit trees. A source claims that according to the EXIM committee's approvals for the import of planting material for fruits during the years 2018 through 2020, 21.44 lakh apple plants were imported in 2018, and 49.57 lahks in 2020.

The number of avocado plant import permits has also increased. 1,000 avocado plants were allowed to be imported in 2018; this number rose to 26,500 in 2020. In a similar vein, the source reported that the number of blueberry plants that can be imported has increased from 1.55 lakh in 2018 to 4.35 lakh in 2020.

In addition, the source said, fruit plant imports include banana, date palm, kiwi, pomegranate, raspberry, strawberry, walnut, wine-grape, grape, guava, olive, peach, pear, and plum plants. 

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