The Himachal Pradesh government has proposed to cover 1,800 hectares of land in the state for orange production, under HP Subtropical Horticulture, Irrigation and Value Addition (SHIVA) project, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said.
State Horticulture Minister Jagat Singh Negi-led delegation, which is on a six-day tour to Australia as part of the project, observed the micro-grafting technique in orange cultivation, besides discussing citrus pathology programme and national citrus repository programme, a statement issued here on Saturday said.
The HP SHIVA project has been funded by the Asian Development Bank.
Citrus fruits are grown in plain areas of the state where the maximum temperature is between 30 and 40 degrees Celsius.
This is a key initiative of the state government to gain technical knowledge from Australia and utilise it to guide local horticulturists for improving the sector, the chief minister said, adding that this will help in preparing high quality orange plants in the state.
Himachal Pradesh has been endowed with a wide range of agro-climatic conditions which has proved a boon for a large number of fruit crops like apple, citrus fruits, mango, apricot and emphasis is being laid on adopting new techniques to increase the income of farmers as well as the survival rate of plants, Sukhu said.
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The delegation during its visit observed and studied the modern techniques of screening, testing, cleaning and maintenance being adopted in the field of plant health management in Australia.
They also visited the Strawberry Industry Certification Authority and the Elizabeth Agricultural Institute laboratories in Sydney and discussed modern techniques for nursery registration programmes, as per the statement.
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