Bhubaneawar, March 24: A three-day national-level seminar on ‘Fruit production in Eastern Tropical Region of India: Challenges and Opportunities’ began here on Thursday.
Being organised by the Central Horticultural Experiment Station (ICAR-IIHR), Bhubaneawar in collaboration with SPH, the seminar will conclude on March 26. The main objective of the seminar was to devise a roadmap for the development of fruit industry in eastern tropical region.
The inaugural function was graced by Dr. A. K. Singh, Deputy Director General (Horticulture), ICAR, New Delhi, Prof. D.P. Ray, Chancellor, SOA, Bhubaneswar, Dr. P.K. Agarwal, Vice Chancellor, OUAT, Dr. V. Pandey, ADG (Horticulture), ICAR New Delhi, Dr. B. N. S. Murthy, Director, ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru and S. K. Subudhi, Additional Director State Horticulture Department.
The event included streaming of CHES activities and release of Souvenir cum Abstract Book and a technical bulletin on Post-harvest Management in fruit crops.
On this occasion, a Post-harvest unit established with the financial support of RKVY Govt. of Odisha was inaugurated to promote value addition in fruit crops.
A MoU was also executed between ICAR-IIHR and a progressive farmer, Shri Bhimasen Patra, Puri for planting material production of Arka Kiran, a guava variety of IIHR, Bengaluru. The seminar comprised of various technical sessions, consisting of talks of distinguished scientists and students under different thematic areas.
The seminar targets to strengthen the research perspective in fruit crops with an approach of promoting fruit production on a commercial basis to augment the livelihood of the farmers of the region.
