Shimla: Horticulture Minister Jagat Singh Negi said that the state government is planning to use state-of-the-art technology to grow high-quality and productive plants in the horticulture sector.
To fulfill this objective, a delegation led by the Horticulture Minister is on a six-day foreign tour to Australia under the HP Shiva Project funded by the Asian Development Bank.
Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mohan Lal Brakta, Director Horticulture Sandeep Kadam, and two other technical officers are included in the delegation. He said that lakhs of fruit trees are planted in Himachal Pradesh every year.
Most of these plants are prepared in the traditional way and many plants are also brought from other states.
There are possibilities of various diseases etc. in the plants prepared by traditional method and the gardeners have to suffer many times in this.
The Horticulture Minister informed that emphasis is being laid on adopting new techniques to deal with this problem and improve the horticulture sector.
The team will observe and study the modern techniques of screening, testing, cleaning, and maintenance, etc. being adopted in the field of plant health management in Australia during their visit.
In addition to holding discussions with the Chief Plant Health Officer of the State of Victoria, the team will visit the laboratories of the Strawberry Industry Certification Authority and the Elizabethan Institute of Agriculture in Sydney, and discuss modern techniques through the Nursery Registration Program, visiting state-of-the-art fruit nurseries. He said that this tour would help in bringing the technology adopted in Australia to Himachal Pradesh.
