The Indira Gandhi Agriculture University (IGAU) will be setting up a hi-tech Green House, Mist Chamber and Protected Structures in the university campus.
Notably, IGAU has also opened a Research Centre at Mainpat in Surguja district, officials stated.
IGAU Scientists are producing high quality potato seeds in Mainpat and distributing it among the farmers.
Interestingly, the Tibetan Refugees are growing potatoes in these villages in the traditional agricultural mode.
Official sources within the University informed that a team of scientists visited the spot recently after learning about the damage suffered by crops in Surguja.
They interacted with the farmers and suggested them better productivity techniques. Moreover, the Scientists felt these farmers must be given proper facilities for potato farming during Rabi season.
The modern farming method has helped the farmers in achieving production of 70 to 80 quintals per acre production, stated officials.
According to the Scientists, some of the areas are facing problems in the farming due to pollution and usage of untreated seeds.
Notably, Chhattisgarh – the rice bowl of India is heading towards producing a sizeable basket of vegetables and fruits.
As per the official data available, the State produced 56.98 lakh metric tonnes of vegetables during 2014-15 which was five per cent more than previous year.
Similarly, 21.55 lakh metric tonnes of fruits were cultivated in Chhattiagarh during 2014-15 which was 10 per cent more than the previous year.
In this context, the cold chain capacity created by the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries in Chhattisgarh stood at 8500 metric tonnes (MT) till April 2015, officials stated.
In a power point presentation on Prospects of Cold Chain Infrastructure in Eastern Region on April 6, 2015, the Ministry has spelled out its plans of taking up a total of 500 Integrated Cold Chain projects as per the modified pattern of the Central assistance during the next five years across the country to create capacity of 2.5 million tonnes . The core objective of the projects is to make the scheme of cold chain value addition nd preservation infrastructure open ended, it stated.
Incidentally, on August 31 this year, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh had directed officials to draw an action plan for operating a State-level ‘Food Processing Mission’ in the State.
Chairing a meeting of the State Industry Department at the office in his residence in Raipur, the Chief Minister said that as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the State would run the ‘Food Processing Mission’ while using its own resources.
He said that the State government has made a provision of Rs 12 crore for launching the State-level ‘Food Processing Mission’.
Singh said that the launching of Mission would help farmers get better prices for their farm produce and also open new job avenues for youth in the Food Processing sector.
Officials attending the meeting said that Food Processing Sector in Chhattisgarh is being seen as a ‘focus sector’ to ensure industrial diversity.
The Chhattisgarh Government will also now promote use of solar photo voltaic power plants in cold storages in a bid to conserve huge quantum of energy consumed by such facilities in the State, officials stated.
The project is to be implemented by Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA), officials stated.
The solar power plant having 50 Kw minimum capacity would be installed in a cold storage in the State meant for storing fruits, vegetables and flowers.
The cold storage would also be connected to a ‘remote monitoring’ mechanism and the data would be viewable in a desktop or even smart phones.
In April this year, the Chhattisgarh Government had announced that an Agro Mall will be developed at Raipur Agriculture Produce Market soon.
Chhattisgarh is among only 13 States in the country which had notified the rules to implement the provisions of Agricultural Produce Marketing Regulation (APMR) Act to facilitate contract farming in the State, officials stated.