Horticulture dept takes up project for resurgence of oranges in the Hills

The challenges that have been identified include diseases like foot rot, gummosis, citrus canker, leaf spot, pests like trunk borer, fruit fly and citrus dog, nutritional deficiency, lack of irrigation facilities, proper soil management and also lack of quality planting materials.

SOUMITRA NANDI, EOI, 22 Jan 2024, Kolkata: Concerned over the decline in orange yield in Darjeeling in the recent past, the state Food Processing Industries & Horticulture (FPI&H) department has come up with Mission Sunlata — a value addition linked production practice aimed at resurgence of the citrus fruit cultivation in the Hills. 

The project will cover 1041 Panchayats and villages in Darjeeling and Kalimpong. A senior official of state FPI& H department said that the components of the programme include training of the farmers, import of planting materials (rootstock, grafting, budding and inarching etc), integrated package with drip irrigation, development and adoption of technologies for management of insect, pests and disease-affected gardens, demonstration of technologies, market research and market promotion. 

“We have roped in experts from ICAR- Central Citrus Research Institute, Nagpur who will be holding a workshop with orange farmers at Sittong or Latpanchar. 

The farmers will be stating their respective issues and experts will inform them of the technological intervention required to address the same,” Subrata Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary of state FPI& H department said. 

The challenges that have been identified include diseases like foot rot, gummosis, citrus canker, leaf spot, pests like trunk borer, fruit fly and citrus dog, nutritional deficiency, lack of irrigation facilities, proper soil management and also lack of quality planting materials. 

The department will create common facilities like custom hiring for spraying of pesticides using power sprayers or drones, exposure visit for farmers, extension functionaries and entrepreneurs on technologies & market opportunities, organise training, melas, exhibitions, seminars and workshops, provide farmers with research backup, hold awareness programmes for rural and urban youths, mass multiplication of planting materials, encourage and support innovators and also climate resilient activities. 

The state government will require upgradation of tissue culture facilities in the Directorate of Cinchona and other Medicinal Plants (DCOMP) in the 1st floor of the present laboratory specially dedicated to oranges. 

A few months back, the department released a book on the Geotagging of “elite” orange plants. About 1069 elite orange plants have been identified and geotagged. They have been identified from the farmers’ fields and also in the cinchona plantations. 

These plants are healthy, strong, disease-free, with good yield, producing good quality oranges and can be used as mother plants in case plants are required for large-scale re-plantation. 

They can be used for grafting, budding and even for tissue culture. The selected geotagged plants are being monitored by the department for future study of status and conduct of tests. The Mandarin orange is a major cash crop of the Darjeeling Hills. It is grown on approximately 930 hectares in the Darjeeling and Kalimpong with an annual production of 148.224 metric tons approximately. 

Courtesy & source- Millennium Post

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/horticulture-dept-takes-up-project-for-resurgence-of-oranges-in-the-hills-549136