Big boost for region Centre to include Nagpur oranges in ‘Clean Plant’ Project

 

 

 

To curb the impact of climate change in agriculture field, the Government of India is launching nine ‘Clean Plant’ Projects across the country, of which three projects will be in Maharashtra, including Nagpur. Union Minister of Agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan made this announcement during the concluding session of India’s first International Agri Hackathon in Pune on Tuesday. The three projects in Maharashtra will be set up at a cost of Rs 300 crore. Under this, projects will be started in Nagpur for oranges, in Pune for grapes and in Solapur for pomegranates. Under this project, modern nurseries will also be set up.

 

Those who use technology for agriculture will be supported by these nurseries. Rs 3 crore will be provided for large nurseries and Rs 1.5 crore for medium-sized nurseries in all these three districts of Maharashtra. Through these nurseries, 8 crore disease-free seedlings will be available to farmers every year. While informing about the project, the Minister expressed confidence that Maharashtra’s horticulture will be able to compete with the world. Chouhan also said that co-operation from countries like Israel and the Netherlands will also be taken to implement this programme. While, talking about research in agriculture field, Chouhan said, “There is no guarantee whether the plants available for cultivation in the horticulture sector are disease-free and productive or not. To solve this problem, the Central Government will launch the ‘Clean Plant’ programme. Scientists work in laboratories to produce good seeds, increase production and diagnose diseases.

 

However, their research does not reach the framers in a timely manner. To bridge the gap, the Government is trying to bring scientists and farmers together through ‘Lab to Land’.” For this ‘Lab to Land’ project, Government of India has taken a decision that 16,000 scientists from across the country will come together and work directly with farmers and with the Agriculture Department of the Central Government. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also attended the programme and he asserted that the agriculture sector is facing many problems in the backdrop of current climate change and the use of modern technology is the only solution. He also expressed the need to incubate useful technologies from the Pune Agri Hackathon and take them directly to farmers.