Central Institute of Horticulture set up in Nagaland

The Central Institute of Horticulture (CIH) set up at Medziphema, under Dimapur district of Nagaland, under the umbrella of Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi for the Horticulture development and upliftment of the socio- economic of the farmers of the North East region..

According to a press release issued today said that the joint team comprises of Central Institute of Horticulture, Medziphema lead by Dr. Lallan Ram, Director and Anjani Kumar Singh, Technical Consultant i/c Fruit blocks and Nursery Unit and DHO Wokha lead by Meyasashi, District Horticulture Officer visited Yankeli Orange village. The main objective of the visit were to get the first hand information on the present status of the orange cultivation in that village and to ascertain the quality of disease free and elite mother plant scion budwood sticks for budding purpose in the CIH farm Medziphema.

The members observed that most of the orchards are established on hill slop without appropriate conservation technique like contour bunds, bench terrace and half-moon terrace. There is no proper planting distance were maintained in the orchard. It was found that most of the orchards are having a planting distance of 4 to 6 feet, which does not allow proper development of canopy and fruiting branch. Visual observation on leaves, branches, trunks and root of die back affected plants indicates no symptoms of diseases or insects infestation. It was found that young orchards of 5-8 year old located in the south-west (exposed directly to sunlight) were most severely affected by die back as compared to the same age group of plants located in the north-east (area less exposed to direct sunlight) which are found to be quite healthy without any symptoms of die back.

After thorough discussion with the citrus grower of the village and field visit by the team, it was concluded that the farmers of the village are not following any management practices. The Director, Central Institute of Horticulture, Medziphema, suggested that the citrus industry can be revive in the village by intervention of scientific management of citrus to boost the socio-economic of the villagers since citrus is the back bone of economy of the villagers. The committee members suggested all the remedial measures and to follow all cultural practices in citrus orchards for the improvement of plant growth and better harvest of quality fruits which will increase in income of the citrus growers of the village. Otherwise, the citrus industry in the village may wipeout in future.