Centre sanctions Rs 75 cr to promote horticulture in Punjab

CHANDIGARH: The Centre has sanctioned Rs 75 crore for Punjab under the National Horticulture Mission so as to boost the state's horticulture sector.

"Approving an action plan of the State Horticulture Department under National Horticulture Mission (NHM), the Union Agriculture Ministry has sanctioned Rs 75 crore for Punjab," said an official spokesperson.

The funds would be used for setting up and maintaining orchards, floriculture and bee-keeping activities besides installation of community water tanks, green-houses, cold stores and pack-houses, he said.

It will also help the state to encourage farmers to shift area under cultivation from water-guzzling paddy crop to flowers, fruits and vegetables, he said.

Concerted efforts are afoot to strengthen the infrastructure for preservation of fruits and vegetables, he said.

Two Centres of Excellence have already been approved -- one for Citrus at Khanaura in Hoshiarpur at a cost of Rs 10.30 crore and another for vegetables at Kartarpur in Jalandhar district and a cost of Rs 9.73 crore.

Both these centres are being developed by the Punjab Mandi Board in sync with the Indo-Israel agreement.

In the current financial year, plastic crates are being provided to the cultivators at a cost of Rs 1.50 crore under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY) to enhance the shelf life of fruits and vegetables.

Besides National Vegetable Initiative (NVI), a subsidiary scheme of RKVY, has also been implemented in five districts of the state including Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Sangrur, Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib, under which the Centre has approved Rs 6 crore in the current fiscal.

A proposal for the expansion of Litchi and Guava estates is also on the anvil while two proposals have been sent under the RKVY for establishing two sub centres of the Citrus estates at Maur (Bathinda) and Kotkapura (Faridkot).

As much as 2,060 hectares is currently under the commercial floriculture, of which 1300 hectares area is being utilised to produce 10,054 tonne of fresh and cut flowers.

About 1.92 lakh hectare land in the state is under vegetable cultivation with annual production of 37.34 tonne whereas 71,000 hectares of land is under fruit cultivation with a production of 14.20 lakh tonnes.