Haryana is becoming an emerging State in terms of diversification of crops. At present, cultivation of fruits, flowers, vegetables, spices and medicinal plants is carried out on 4.50 lakh hectares of area in the State.
For the diversification of crops, Indo-Israel centres of excellence for fruits and vegetables have been set up in Haryana. Also, the Central Government has awarded the Department of Horticulture for outstanding performance of these centres and large number of farmers have come out of circle of traditional farming, said Director, horticulture department, Arjun Saini on Sunday. He said that five projects have been set up in the State to impart practical training to farmers. These five projects include Centre of Excellence for Vegetables in Gharaunda, Centre of Excellence for Fruits in Mangiana of Sirsa, Centre of sub-tropical Fruits, ladwa in Kurukshetra, Guava Demonstration centre of Bhuna in Fatehabad and Horticulture Biotechnology Centre in Karnal.
So far, 1,252 poly-houses have been set up, which cover about 438.77 hectares of area. There is a target to set up poly houses in 50,000 hectares by next year in the state.
He said that world level yields are being produced in Centre of Excellence for vegetables in Gharaunda which include 302 Metric Tonnes (MT) per hectare of tomatoes, 211 MT per hectare of capsicum, 151 MT of cucumber.
75 varieties of tomatoes, 24 of capsicum and 15 of cucumber are demonstrated in this centre. Also, cultivation of brinjal, green chilli and muskmelon is carried out in the centre during winter season and cabbage in summers. About 162.74 lakh plants of vegetables have been distributed among farmers till the year 2014-15, said he.
About the Centre of Excellence for Fruits in Mangiana, Saini said that set up at a cost of Rs 9.70 crore in about 80 acres of area, new varieties of citrus fruits, olives, pomegranate and dates have been demonstrated there. So far, this centre has provided quality plants of fruits to about one lakh farmers. With the setting up of this Centre, Kinnow fruit has emerged as a brand in the state and the country, which is famous as Sirsa Kinnow.
The Centre of Sub-Tropical Fruits, ladwa has been set up at a cost of Rs 9.10 crore on an area of about 30 acres. Various varieties of fruits have been demonstrated in the centre including 28 varieties of mango, four varieties of guava, seven of pear, six of peaches, four of pomegranate and five varieties of olives etc.
Apart from this, as many as 18 varieties of guava have been demonstrated with latest technology at Guava Demonstration center of Bhuna and information of various varieties of guava is given to farmers in the centre.
Another Centre namely Horticulture Biotechnology Centre in Karnal to be set up at a cost of Rs four crore is in progress and there is a target to complete it by November 2015, added Saini.