Bhubaneswar: Odisha government plans to scale up fruits and vegetable production with a target to reach self-sufficiency.
Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra directed the officials concerned to prepare a target-specific time-bound work plan for up-scaling fruit and vegetable production in the context of different agro-climatic zones of Odisha.
Speaking at a virtual meeting from Lok Seva Bhavan here on Thursday, Mahapatra stressed on listing the fruit and vegetable species and varieties for which Odisha has higher potential and accordingly prepare a workable plan.
Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Secretary, Suresh Kumar Basistha outlined the present scenario and available potential of vegetable and fruit production in the state.
Development Commissioner Pardeep Kumar Jena advised to focus on vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, potato and onion; and fruit species like papaya, banana, guava and lemon.
A committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary and Agriculture Production Commissioner Raj Kumar Sharma to prepare the work plan.
After becoming a surplus state in rice, milk, poultry and fish fingerling production, Odisha is on its path towards self sufficiency in vegetable and fruit production. This was discussed in a high level meeting held under the Chairmanship of
Director, Horticulture, Rohit Kumar Lenka informed the members that total fruit production in Odisha touched 2,482 thousand tonne 9,798 thousand tonne in vegetable production while in spices production has crossed 202 thousand tonne.
Odisha ranked first in production of sweet potato, second in brinjal, fifth in watermelon, cauliflower, okra, tomato and sixth in bottle gourd at national level as per ‘horticulture area production information system’ (HAPIS) reports 2019-20.
Similarly in production of fruits, Odisha ranked second in jackfruit, fifth in lemon, seventh in sapota, ninth in mango and jackfruit.
Spices: Odisha ranked sixth in coriander, seventh in chili, seventh in turmeric and eighth in garlic as per the reports of 2019-20.
Available data showed that Odisha ranked seventh in production of all kinds of vegetables and 11th in all kinds of fruits as per agri-crop report of 2019-20.
Commonly produced in Odisha
Fruits: Banana, mango, guava, papaya, lemon, sapota, pineapple, watermelon and jackfruit
Vegetables: Brinjal, tomato, sweet potato, onion, pumpkin, root crops, cabbage beans, peas among others
Training farmers and orientation programmes about modern technique of cultivation and yearly return from these non-paddy cash-crops was also discussed at the meeting.
Among others, Principal Secretary, Cooperation, Vir Vikram Yadav; Principal Secretary, Energy, NB Dhal and Agriculture Director Muthu Kumar were present.
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