Comments
“Innovative Horticulture for Self Reliance” will be the theme of the four-day National Horticultural Fair (NHF) 2023 being organised in Bengaluru from February 22.
The fair, being organised by the ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, will showcase and demonstrate the latest technologies for the production and processing of horticultural crops such as fruits, vegetables, flowers and medicinal crops with a focus on import substitution, said Sanjay Kumar Singh, Director, ICAR-IIHR.
The sixth edition of the NHF 2023 is being organised in collaboration with the Society for Promotion of Horticulture (SPH), BESST-Hort, a technology business incubator of ICAR-IIHR, the ICAR- ATARI, Bengaluru and leading development departments serving for the promotion of horticulture.
Millets value-addition
Over 50,000 farmers and around 250 exhibitors are expected to participate in NHF 2023, which will also showcase the innovation and value addition in millets, considering that 2023 is being observed as the International Year of Millets, Singh said. Newer technologies relating to pollination in protected cultivation, leaf curl virus resistant chilli varieties, carotenoid rich marigold varieties among others developed by the ICAR-IIHR will be showcased and demonstrated to the farmers at the fair, Singh said.
C Aswath, Vice-President, SPH, said techniques developed to utilise flower waste, terrace gardening, urban horticulture, production technologies for exotic fruits such as dragon fruits and avocado and cost-effective traps for pest management among others for the benefit of growers, horticulturists and other stakeholders will be on display at the fair. Also, farmer consultancy, trainings and workshops are organised for the benefit of the stakeholders.
IIHR has been organising the NHF since 2017. The apex institute for horticultural crops, set up in 1967 has been carrying out research in basic, applied and strategic aspects of horticultural crops and has so far released 316 varieties and 144 technologies, Singh said. Some 102 technologies have been commercialised to 559 clients with over 1,114 licences. The new varieties and technologies developed and released by IIHR are contributing to more than ₹30,051 crore annually to the ever-growing horticulture sector in the country that has been the the largest producer of fruits and vegetables, Singh said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.