In a bid to strengthen the infrastructure for preservation of citrus fruits, Punjab government has established Centre of Excellence for Citrus fruits at Khanaura (Hoshiarpur) at a cost of Rs 10.30 crore.
Disclosing this here today, an official spokesperson said that the state government is making concerted efforts for the same.
He said that the centre aims at making Punjab farmers aware of the latest technological and scientific advancements in cultivation of fruits.
The Centre has been set up on a large agriculture farm of about 27 acres abutting Hoshiarpur-Phagwara road.
"Since the main objective of the centre is to promote horticulture, maximum area has been kept for it. Out of about 27 acres, 24 acres has been reserved for setting up plant nurseries and orchards. Only 3 acres has been kept for necessary building infrastructure", he said.
He said that in order to increase production of fruits in the state, Horticulture department has sold 20,000 virus-free plants grown by drip farming process to the farmers at Modern Nursery.
The spokesperson said that gardens with twenty varieties of citrus fruits including orange, malta, grape fruits have been developed in the state after importing high quality seeds from the USA and Israel.
