A team comprising officials of the National Horticulture Board (NHB) and experts from Punjab Agricultural University visited the Agriculture Research Centre at Balrampur in Sarguja district, officials said on Monday.
They also visited the orchid at Obari and advised officials to adopt scientific methods to grow plants in the nursery. The team also interacted with the participating farmers in a training camp and motivated them to grow vegetables and flowering plants for better results. They told the farmers to take extreme care while using fertilizer as excess or use of fewer amounts could ruin the cultivation. They said farmers should use fertilizer as per their requirements.
They said Mango is the king of fruits and eating it could help cure eye diseases. Mango cultivation could be taken up in the area as it can tolerate a wide range of climatic conditions. They also advised the farmers to take up other fruits edible fruit trees like lichi, Papaya, drumstick and pears. Citing an example National Horticulture Board (NHB) Deputy Director Anil Kumar said farmers in Wardha district in Maharashtra have formed a Society and growing horticulture crops in about 50 acres of land. They are making lakhs of rupees out of it, he added.
Others who accompanied Kumar included horticulture experts from Delhi, experts from Punjab horticultural university, former head of ludhiana Horticulture Department Dr.Yograj Chanana. Several local and state horticulture department officials also accompanied them.