Horticulture
The Department of Horticulture Punjab deals with providing production technologies for fruits, vegetables, flowers and mushroom cultivation to the farmers. Department has its district level office at village chhauni kalan P.O. Ram Colony Camp, Hoshiarpur and block/circle level offices at Dasuya, Mukerian, Talwara, Bhunga, Mahilpur and Garhshaker.
Out of 206757 Hectares total cultivated area of district Hoshairpur about 8400 Hectares are under fruit crops mainly kinnow, Mango, Guava, Peach, Litchi etc. and 31300 Hectares are under vegetable crops such as potato, carrot, peas, cauliflower etc. In Punjab only 3.7% area is under horticulture Crops where as in Hoshiarpur this figure goes upto 11% which shows that this district is well diversified and has future scope also. Horticulture department besides providing technical expertise also provides quality nursery plants vegetables seeds etc. of approved varieties to the farmers at reasonable rates.
To provide good quality nursery plants- the department has 3 Govt. Gardens and Nurseries situated at Chhauni kalan, Bhunga and Khiala Bulanda. These nurseries are established on modern lines and facilities such as screen house, shade-net house , automated fertigation units are provided and these nurseries produce about 70,000 fruit plants per year .
Department also established a “Center of Excellence ” for fruits at khanaura under Indo-Israel project with the help on MIDH (Mission for Integrated Dev.of Horti.) In this center various table and processing varieties of Citrus are planted and being tested for their suitability .This center also provides quality Citrus palnts to the growers. Beside Citrus fruits, crops such as Guava, Mango, Papaya, Banana etc. are being tested.
Thrust Points For Development Of Horticulture:
- Improving productivity and quality of Horticultural crops.
- Transfer of improved technology and its adoption.
- Improving supply of quality planting material.
- Developing infrastructure for post harvest handling and processing.
- Expansion of area under Horticulture crops..
- Promoting domestic and export marketing of Horticultural crops.
To achieve these goals and to decrease the production costs-department has established two Citrus Estates at Bhunga and Chhauni Kalan with the facilities like leaf and soil testing laboratories, latest spraying equipments, pruning equipments etc are being provided to farmers which help in reducing the expenditure of farmers thus improving their profits.
Department has a Govt. Patato Seed Farm situated at khanaura which produces about 5000-6000 quintals of quality Patato seed and 100 quintals of vegetables seeds annually which are provided to farmers at nominal rates at first come first serve basis.
To promote mushroom cultivation, department has Govt. Mushroom Spawn Lab. at Chhauni kalan which produces about 5500 bottles of mushroom spawn.
Department has also one Fruit Preservation Laboratory at Chhauni Kalan which produces about 6000 bottles of various type of squashes etc. beside providing training to rural women.
To promote cultivation of Fruits and vegetables at home scale level department provides about (1800 each) Summer and winter season vegetable mini-kits to growers and also promotes tubewell plantation of fruit plants which not only provide nutritional support to people but also reduce their domestic expenditure significantly .
In nut-shell department is serving the farming community very well with its limited staff strength and resources. For various horticulture activities assistance/ subsidy is provided under MIDH guideline.