Garhwal Post Bureau
Kashipur, 3 Dec: State Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi on Wednesday inspected the Horticulture Testing and Training Centre (Government Garden, Kashipur). During the visit, he reviewed in detail the progress of various crops, fruits, and vegetables being cultivated and developed at the centre.
Officials informed the Minister that the Government Breeding Garden, Kashipur, produces grafted saplings of various plant species including mango, guava, litchi, pomegranate, and lemon. The garden is currently developing colourful mango varieties such as Pusa Arunima, Arunika, Pusa Lalima, Shrestha, Kesar, Ambika, among others. Additionally, grafted plants of popular varieties like Mallika and Amrapali are also prepared and supplied to farmers.
Officials further apprised him that potato is developed from breeder seed to foundation seed at the centre, while onion seedlings are provided to farmers on a no-profit–no-loss basis. At present, the centre has 30,000 grafted plants, 25,00,000 onion seedlings, and production of around 1,000 quintals of potato seed in progress.
Minister Joshi also visited the potato farm and appreciated the advanced agricultural techniques being adopted there. Departmental officers made a PowerPoint presentation on fruit and vegetable production, ongoing research, and future plans.
On this occasion, Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi planted a sapling of the Lalima variety of mango, giving a message of promoting environmental conservation and increased sapling production. Expressing satisfaction with the functioning of the centre, he instructed officials to further strengthen research and training activities.
Chief Horticulture Officer Satish Sharma and other officials were present during the inspection.
