The Punjab government on Monday said it will establish horticulture estates in Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Faridkot and Ludhiana districts.
Equipped with the latest technological information and machinery, these estates will provide facilities to horticulturists to help them produce high quality fruits and reduce their cost of production.
It was stated by Horticulture Minister Fauja Singh Sarari during a meeting with his department officials here, according to an official release.
He instructed the officials to bring maximum area under horticulture crops by motivating farmers to come out of the current wheat-paddy crop cycle.
He also asked the horticulture officials to create awareness to save ground water, which is continuously depleting in Punjab.
The minister also asked the officers to promote nurseries for palm trees and other ornamental plants in Punjab as these plants sell at huge premiums and can be a profitable venture for the farmers.
Sarari also said Punjab is the largest producer of potato seed in the country and keeping in view the future demand, an aeroponic unit and tissue culture lab will be established in Jalandhar with an investment of ₹10 crore.