Three Centres Of Excellence For Horticultural Crops Approved Under MIDH By Govt

Centres of Excellence are being established in various states through Bilateral Cooperation or Research Institutes under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH). These CoEs will serve as demonstration and training facilities for cutting-edge horticultural technologies.

These CoEs are also used as a source of planting material for fruit and vegetable seedlings for protected cultivation, as well as for the transfer of technology and know-how in a variety of areas, such as post-harvest management, irrigation, and fertilization, plant protection, the introduction of new varieties, pollination, and so on.

The newly approved Centres of Excellence for horticultural crops are the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru, Karnataka at experimental station, Hirehalli, Bengaluru; the Indo-Israel Agriculture Project (IIAP) at Panikoili, Jajpur district, Odisha; and the Government Agricultural Farm, Codar, Khandepar, Ponda, Goa.

Kamlam (Dragon Fruit) CoE in Bengaluru, Karnataka: The vision of this Centre is to develop cutting-edge production technology that meets international standards, as well as off-season production, and to demonstrate these technologies for high-yield production. The Centre will strive for self-sufficiency in Kamlam fruit production, value addition, and economic development of the farming community.

The Centre will concentrate on developing high-performance varieties with improved yield, nutrient use efficiency, nutritional quality, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Standardization of propagation techniques, distribution of quality planting material through a public participatory approach, development of a protocol for post-harvest handling and storage to reduce post-harvest losses and promote export to distant markets, development of value-added products and processes for product diversification and higher revenue realization, dissemination of developed technologies to farmers and other stakeholders through training, field visits, e-learning, and other means.

Mango and Vegetable CoE in Jajpur, Odisha: The Centre's vision is to generate knowledge in nursery management, cultivation practices, and the production of high-quality and large quantities of planting material for mango and vegetable crops. The Centre will also showcase new varieties, Israeli Agro technology in irrigation, fertigation, and plant protection, as well as precision agriculture and post-harvest management technology. For the benefit of farmers, the Centre will develop a training model based on focused areas such as irrigation, fertigation, nursery, canopy, and value chain.

The Centre of Excellence for Vegetables and Flowers in Ponda, Goa, will focus on the demonstration of a high-tech nursery management system with advanced production technology via an automated irrigation and fertigation system for the production of disease-free and healthy vegetable seedlings of improved varieties of vegetables and flowers suitable for Goa. In addition, the Centre will strengthen infrastructure for the promotion of pre-and post-harvest management of quality products, as well as develop protocols/guidelines tailored to local conditions in the CoE and farmer's field.

PIB

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