ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) organized a Special training programme “Advances in Horticultural Technologies" on October 3-5th, 2019 under NHM, for the farmers of Tamil Nadu and this programme was sponsored by Department of Horticulture and Plantation Crops, Government of Tamil Nadu. Hundred farmers along with two Assistant Directors of Horticulture and two Assistant Horticultural Officers of Tamil State (Erode District – Gobi and Sathyamangla block) attended the training programme. Dr Prakash Patil, PC, Fruits, ICAR-IIHR inaugurated the training programme, interacted with the participants and laid emphasis on developing entrepreneurs through various ICAR-IIHR technologies.
During the three-day deliberations, participants acquired knowledge and skills on fruit crop technologies, ornamental and vegetable cultivation; commercial nursery management, integrated pest, diseases & nutrient management, technologies for commercial /agri-business avenues, business avenues in post-harvest technologies, ventures for custom hiring centres, horticultural technologies of IIHR, post-harvest and value addition; process and benefits of licensing of IIHR technologies etc. The lectures were interspersed with field visits to demonstration blocks, nursery, visit to ATIC, vegetable seed unit, post-harvest lab, mushroom lab and various units of the institute. During the programme, training materials like Hand book on vegetable cultivation, Tropical fruits cultivation, Arka banana special, Arka vegetable special, Arka microbial consortia and Vegetable seed kits were distributed to all the participants.
The trainees expressed satisfaction on the conduct of the training programme and opined that they have learnt many new scientific management practices to implement under real farm situations. This programme was coordinated by Dr. V. Sankar, Principal Scientist and Dr R. Senthil Kumar, Principal Scientist, Division of Social Science and Training, ICAR-IIHR, Bangalore.
