A team of experts of the Quinquennial Review Team (QRT) of Central Citrus Research Institute (CCRI) has found that one of the causes of fruit drop experienced by farmers at the Narwan village orchard in East Jaiñtia Hills was imbalanced nutrition in the soil.
Narwan is one the villages in the State that has an abundance the famous Khasi Mandarin oranges. Its golden orbs were also exported to Dubai in December last year.
Vice-Chancellor of Horticulture and Forestry University, Himachal Pradesh, Dr. (Prof.) Rajeshwar S Chandel who led the QRT team on October 7 to the orchard while interacting with the Khasi Mandarin farmers told them about one of the causes of fruit drop and said the team is determined to find the root cause of the fruit drop.
He also emphasised on the ways and means which farmers can practice and to follow the calendar of operations laid down by the State Directorate of Horticulture in order to maximise production of good quality fruits.
Further he also encouraged the farmers to plant local saplings and initiate nursery production of healthy planting materials as plant growth performance in the village is very satisfactory with no or very low pest and disease pressure.
The inspection was coordinated by the District Horticulture Officer, East Jaintia Hills District with the Quinquennial Review Team (QRT) of the Central Citrus Research Institute (CCRI).
District Horticulture Officer D. B. Dhar thanked the QRT members and informed them about the concerns of the farmers and their desire to find a solution to the fruit drop. He also encouraged the farming community to plant local saplings which are available at subsidised rate from the government horticulture farm situated at Mynkre village so as to minimise the spread of pest and diseases infestations and get true to type quality planting materials.
The QRT delegation comprised of Former Assistant Director General (Horticulture Science), ICAR, New Delhi, Dr W.S. Dhillon, Former Director, ICAR-NRC on Pomegranate, Solapur, Dr R.K Pal, Former Dean and Director of Research, BCKV, West Bengal, Dr S.K Mitra, Former ADG (Plant Pathology) and Former Member ASRB, ICAR, New Delhi, Dr P.K Chakraborty, Ex-Head, Soil Science, ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru, Dr A.N Ganeshmurthy and scientists including Dr. A.K Das and Dr. D.M .Kadam, ICAR-CCRI, Nagpur, Dr H. Rymbai, ICAR-RCNEH, Umiam and Dr. E.S Marboh, ICAR-CCRI, RRCC, Biswanath Chariali, Assam.
Also present during the inspection were Assistant Director of Horticulture S.R. Mulieh, District Horticulture Officer D. B. Dhar, Horticulture Officers B. Rymbai and N. Shylla, village heads and farmers.
During the inspection, the experts discussed strategies, initiatives and measures to enhance quality production.
