ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangaluru organized a two-day Special Training Program on “Dissemination of Export Protocol in Mango” including Pre and Post Harvest Practices for 15 officials of the sponsoring agency Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralam (VFPCK), Kerala during 23-24 September 2022. With the main objective to improve the quality of mango production by disseminating the pre and post-harvest standard operation procedures for promotion of marketing (domestic and export) of mango, the trainees were oriented to understand the management and rejuvenation of orchards, pre and post-harvest practices based on export regulations; knowledge about fruit care; packing, grading, sorting and storage to increase the shelf life of the fruits.
Panel discussions were held on ‘Improved cultivation practices for quality mango production (HDP, canopy management, flower regulation and rejuvenation)’, moderated by Dr. Reju Kurian and on ‘Integrated water and nutrient management practices of mango’, with Dr. B. L. Manjunath and Dr. G. C. Satisha, as panelists, and a visit to high density planting of mango was arranged. Dr. S. Sriram and Dr. Jayanthimala participated in a panel discussion on ‘Integrated disease and pest management of mango’, subsequently a guest lecture by Dr. Nagaveni, Agri-export consultant, VTPC, Bangalore.
Dr. D. V. Sudhakar Rao and Dr. Rakesh Reddy delivered a lecture on “Integrated pre and post harvest protocol of mango for export” and BESST HORT incubation facilities were also explained. Dr. T. M. Gajanana delivered a lecture on “Economics of production, marketing and export of mango”. Dr. Debi Sharma, Director, ICAR-IIHR in her concluding remarks highlighted the points pertaining to pesticidal residue management in Mango and distributed certificates. The training programme was coordinated by Dr. R. B. Tiwari, Dr. R. Venkattakumar and Dr. R. Senthil Kumar from the Division of Social Sciences and Training, ICAR-IIHR.
