Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) and Director General (ICAR) inaugurated the four-day “National Horticulture Fair - 2020 (NHF - 2020)” on 5th February. Dr. Mohapatra considered horticultural produces as the hope for dealing with the malnutrition problem in the country. He highlighted about the Government of India’s various agricultural policies aimed at doubling the farmers’ income that are supporting the steady progress of horticulture in the country too.
The Director General stressed on creating awareness about the nutrition and vertical gardening for the nutritional security and accentuated on the need for horticulture-based integrated farming systems. He urged the Press professionals for making efforts to popularize the technologies produced by the ICAR for the farmers’ benefits.
Dr. Mohapatra felicitated 8 farmers representing Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram and Odisha for their contributions in the field of horticulture and popularising the varieties / technologies of the ICAR-IIHR. He also launched a web application - “ICAR-IIHR Seed Portal” capable in capturing information on seed handling & seed process flow, seed quality testing, seed packaging and storage in the back-end of application and online sale of seeds and planting material produced by the institute.
He also released a tri-lingual Mobile App “Arka Bagwani” in English, Hindi and Kannada. The App provides the information on varieties & technologies, success stories, availability of seeds & planting material, glimpses of earlier horticulture fairs & exhibitions and training & symposia conducted by the Institute.
Dr. Joykrushna Jena, Deputy Director General (Fisheries Sciences), ICAR also marked his presence as the Guest of Honor during the occasion.
The exhibition of more than 250 stalls pertaining to horticultural technologies and services of various organizations, such as, ICAR-IIHR, Development Departments, ICAR Institutes and Public and Private Sector Organizations, Input Industries, etc., was inaugurated by the Awardee Farmers.
The senior officials of ICAR Institutes, State Agricultural Universities and several other departments of State Government were also present during the occasion. The fair registered a total participation by more than 10,000 farmers and other stakeholders.
