A special training was organized on “Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) recommended for Cultivation of Mango, Guava and Pomegranate” by ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticulture (IIHR), Bengaluru for the officials of Department of Horticulture (DoH), Government of Telangana on May 18, 2021 from 02.00 P.M to 6.00 PM through online (zoom) mode. This programme was organized under the Chairmanship of Dr. M. R. Dinesh, Director, ICAR-IIHR. The following were the resource persons who facilitated the training:
- Dr. Reju M Kurian, Principal Scientist and Head (I/C), Division of Fruit Crops, ICAR-IIHR
- Dr. B. L. Manjunath, Principal Scientist, Division of Fruit Crops, ICAR-IIHR
The following were the delegates participated in the training programme from the Department of Horticulture (DoH), Government of Telangana:
- Dr. L. Venkat Ram Reddy, Director of Horticulture, Government of Telangana
- Smt. V. Sarojini, Joint Director of Horticulture, Government of Telangana
- Sri. Madusudhan, Deputy Director of Horticulture, Government of Telangana
- Smt. P. Bhagyalaxmi, Deputy Director of Horticulture, Government of Telangana
- Sri. P. Yadagiri, Assistant Director of Horticulture and Technical Officer, Director of Horticulture, Government of Telangana
- District and taluk level officers from 32 districts of Telangana
- Farmer representatives from Government of Telangana
At the outset, Dr. Venkat Ram Reddy, Director of Horticulture, Government of Telangana extended a warm welcome to the Director, ICAR-IIHR, resource persons and all the officials and farmer representatives. Dr. M. R. Dinesh, Director, ICAR-IIHR, in his introductory remarks suggested the Department of Horticulture to promote entrepreneurship in horticulture based on ICAR-IIHR technologies, especially nurseries for production of quality planting material. He also suggested facilitating Farmers Producers Organizations (FPOs) with horticulture technologies of ICAR-IIHR in order to promote their livelihood security.
Smt. P. Bhagyalaxmi, Deputy Director of Horticulture, Government of Telangana presented about the field level problems faced by the farmers of Telangana and officials of Department of Horticulture at their farms on mango cultivation. As a reply to this presentation, Dr Kurian presented about the GAP recommended for cultivation of mango. After this presentation, there was an interaction between the participants and resource persons on various aspects of mango cultivation such as details on application of growth regulators, regulation of alternate bearing, induction of early flowering, solutions for mango malformation, solutions for flower dropping, application of nutrients, spacing recommended for high and ultra high density planting, irrigation schedule, canopy management etc.
Then, Smt. P. Bhagyalaxmi, Deputy Director of Horticulture, Government of Telangana presented about the field level problems faced by the farmers of Telangana and officials of Department of Horticulture at their farms on guava cultivation. As a reply to this presentation, Dr. Manjunath presented about the GAP recommended for cultivation of guava. After this presentation, there was an interaction between the participants and resource persons on various aspects of guava cultivation such as details on suitable season for planting material production, recommended varieties, details about cultivation of Thai guava, management of pest and diseases, nematode management, canopy management in guava, etc.
Smt. P. Bhagyalaxmi, Deputy Director of Horticulture, Government of Telangana presented about the field level problems faced by the farmers of Telangana and officials of Department of Horticulture at their farms on pomegranate cultivation. As a reply to this presentation, a presentation about the GAP recommended for cultivation of pomegranate was made by Dr. Linta Vincent, Scientist, Division of Fruit Crops. After this presentation, there was an interaction between the participants and resource persons on various aspects of pomegranate cultivation such as details on planting material production, recommended varieties, management of internal browning/ break down, plant protection measures and nutrient management practices etc.
Dr. M. R. Dinesh, in his concluding remarks suggested for continuation of collaboration between ICAR-IIHR and Department of Horticulture, Government of Telangana for training the officials of the Department and farmers on post-harvest processing and value addition on fruit crops, canopy management in fruit orchards, intercropping of vegetables such as watermelon in fruit orchards, seed production of vegetable crops through farmers and FPOs.
This online training programme came to an end with the formal vote of thanks proposed by Dr. R. Senthil Kumar, Coordinator of the training programme from ICAR-IIHR side and Mr. P Yadagiri, ADH and Technical Officer to Director of Horticulture, Government of Telangana from Department side. This programme was also coordinated by Dr R. Venkattakumar, Principal Scientist and Head (I/C), Division of Social Sciences and training.