 "Fruits & vegetables")
Union Minister of State for Agriculture Shobha Karandlaje on Monday emphasised on cultivation of pest-free fruits and vegetables with no residues to boost exports as well as farmers income.
The minister was speaking after inaugurating a workshop for management of fruit flies on mango, being organised in Mumbai during June 19-23.
In a statement, the agriculture ministry said that Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission (APPPC) unanimously elected India as chair of the Standing Committee on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for the biennium 2023-24 during the 32nd session of APPPC held in Bangkok during November 2022.
Accordingly, the APPPC Workshop on systems approach for the management of fruit flies on mango has been scheduled during 19-23 June, 2023, in Navi Mumbai.
Karandlaje emphasised on the "production of pest-free as well as residue-free fruits and vegetables for getting market worldwide so that farmers' income can be increased", the statement said.
During the five-day workshop, the deliberations will be held on systems approach for management of fruit fly in mango, review of all relevant ISPMs (International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures) and pre-harvest 'Integrated Plant Health Management' for mango pest.
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Visit to treatment facility and mango orchard is also scheduled.
Ashish Kumar Shrivastava, Joint Secretary (PP), Department of Agriculture, briefed on International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), APPPC and their role in Phytosanitary mitigation for safe transboundary movement of commodity.
He shared his experiences on implementation of systems approach for mango in India.
Further, he emphasised on development of systems approach for all the important agricultural commodities by farm registration/ orchard registration with State Agriculture Department, application of Integrated Pest Management at farmer level, regular monitoring of pest and timely management of pest.
Tarun Bajaj, Director at APEDA, explained the role of APEDA in export of agriculture commodity, and said India has exported around USD 60 million of fresh mango.
The participants from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Bhutan are attending the workshop physically while the participants from remaining countries are attending virtually.
