The nurseries of Himachal Pradesh have the capacity to produce 52 lakh apple root stocks by 2023 and work on action plan has already been started to achieve this goal.

This was stated by Irrigation and Public Health and Horticulture Minister Mahender Singh Thakur while presiding over a meeting with Consultant Agencies of New Zealand and the Netherlands regarding progress of the ambitious Horticulture Project of Rs 1,134 crore for the state on Thursday.

The Horticulture minister expressed concern that root stocks were procured from abroad on a large scale, of which almost 50 per cent had dried up before reaching here.

He said that the geographical conditions and climate of HP is different from the countries from where these root stocks were being procured.

He said that there is a better possibility of producing root stocks as per local climatic conditions. He emphasised that department should fix the targets of producing cent-per cent plants in the state. However, by the year 2023, 13 lakh root stock will be produced as per the existing infrastructure, but there was potential to increase the production by four times by strengthening infrastructural facilities.

He stressed the need to gradually reducing import of root stock and strengthening nurseries to make them viable.

Thakur said that this project was mainly for expansion and revival of temperate fruits like Apple, Pear etc and it was important that prior to importing plants, geographical conditions, irrigation facilities and soil testing like aspects must be taken care.

He asked the consultancies to advise the varieties of root stock for the areas above 7,000 to 9,000 feet high. He directed that before the distribution of plants selection of clusters in various parts of the state should be identified keeping in view the topography and irrigation facilities and soil testing should also be ensured.

He said that irrigation facility was the main component, and the cluster should be chosen where the water is available or the irrigation scheme was under construction. The minister said that all departmental Subject Matter Specialists and HDOs (Horticulture Development Of f icers) should go to the farmers and orchardists and give them advice on the plants that could be grown in their respective areas.

He said that the officials of the consulting agency should also go to the field and provide necessary training and consultation to the orchardists. He asked to submit the report within 10 days. He said that if the consulting agency was unable to bring the expected results, its contract would be reconsidered.