Monday 8 June 2015

Centre of excellence for flowers, fruits planned

Participants at the exhibition organised by TNAU Horticultural College and Research Institute for Women in Tiruchi on Saturday.—Photo:A.Muralitharan
The Horticulture Department will establish two Centres of Excellence, one for export-based flowers in Krishnagiri district, and another for cultivating quality vegetables in Dindigul district, each at an estimate of Rs.9.70 crore.
Speaking at the inaugural of a workshop on ‘Attracting and retaining youth in agriculture’ here on Saturday, L. Sitherasenan, Director of Horticulture, said the flower centre would come up at Thali with Israel technological collaboration. The focus would be on production of export-based cut rose flowers. “Farmers would be trained in immediate cultivation of flowers, steps for pre-cooling and the procedure to be followed for its export within the stipulated time to meet export norms. Seven poly houses were under construction. The other infrastructure included Farmers Training Centre, pre-cooling centre besides shade nets for open cultivation.”
He said about 3,600 flower growers would benefit from the programme which would be opened in a couple of months. The price per flower would be between Rs.15 and Rs. 20 for export-quality flowers and between Rs.3 and Rs.7.50 for non-export quality flowers. Mr. Sitherasenan said the centre of excellence for vegetables in Dindigul district would focus on producing tomato, brinjal, chillies and capsicum. While the yellow and red capsicum would be export-based, the green capsicum would be for domestic consumption, he added. This centre would be inaugurated within three months and civil works are currently in progress.


Source : The Hindu

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