New Delhi: A Center of Excellence for Mango and Vegetables under the Indo-Israel Action Plan will come up at Panikoili in the Jajpur District of Odisha.
Under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Centers of Excellence (CoEs) are being established in various States through Bilateral Cooperation or Research Institutes.
These CoEs serve as demonstration and training centres for the latest technologies in the field of horticulture. These CoEs also serve as sources of planting material for fruits and vegetable seedlings for protected cultivation and are used for transfer of technology and knowhow in diverse areas, viz., Post-Harvest management, Irrigation and Fertigation, Plant protection, Introduction of New Varieties, Pollination etc.
CoE for Mango and Vegetables at Jajpur, Odisha: The vision of the Centre is to generate knowledge in nursery management, cultivation practices, and production of high-quality & large quantities of planting material for mango and vegetable crops.
The Centre will also focus on the demonstration of new varieties, Israeli Agro technology in irrigation, fertigation & Plant protection technologies along with precision Agriculture and post-harvest management technology. The Centre will prepare a training model based on the focused areas such as irrigation, fertigation, nursery, canopy & value chain for the benefit of farmers.
CoE for Kamlam (Dragon Fruit) at Bengaluru, Karnataka: The vision of this Centre is to develop the latest production technology as per the international standard & off-season production and demonstration of these technologies for high-yield production. The Centre will aim to achieve self-sustenance in Kamlam fruit production, value addition and enhance the economic development of the farming community.
The Centre will focus to develop high-performance variety with improved yield, nutrient use efficiency, nutritional quality, tolerance against biotic & abiotic stresses, Standardization of propagation techniques, distribution of quality planting material through a public participatory approach, development of a protocol for post-harvesting handling and storage to reduce post-harvest losses and promote export to distant markets, development of value-added products and processes for product diversification & higher revenue realization, dissemination of developed technologies to the farmers & other stakeholders through training, field visits, etc.
CoE for Vegetables and Flowers at Ponda, Goa: The Centre will focus on the demonstration of a Hi-tech nursery management system with advanced production technology through 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.
The Centre will also strengthen infrastructure for the promotion of pre & post-harvest management of quality products and develop protocols/guidelines tailored to the local conditions in the CoE & farmer’s field as well.
Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has approved 49 CoEs till now.
