Additonal Horticulture Commissioner of India visits Sikkim

Gangtok: 17th July: Dr. Amit Sahai, Additonal Horticulture Commissioner paid a three day visit to Sikkim from 12-14 July to evaluate various programmes under implementation through Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States. He made extensive tour to various project areas including cymbidium clusters, new orange plantations and rejuvenated orange orchards and various government establishments and farms.

The places visited include Mazitar Govt. farm, Cymbidium Development Centre, Bermiok Horticulture farm, Model Floriculture Centres of Namli and Maniram; rose clusters of Radang, progeny orchard of pear at Namthang, orange orchards of West Pandam and Ramabong and gloriosa fields at Turuk. He was all praise for crop intensification programmes of the department. He expressed great happiness over the quality of works. He was full of praise for the Cymbidium Development Centre at Rumtek and expressed hope that the dream to make Sikkim a floriculture state can be achieved one day. He had the opportunity to interact with various farmers’ groups.

He was pleased to learn that programme implementation under the Mission is being carried out in right earnest. The highlight of the trip was the visit to tomato clusters of South Sikkim. The Addl. Commissioner was highly impressed with the development in this sub- sector. So impressed was the Addl. Commissioner with the spectacular development in horticulture sector that he has promised all kinds of support from the Ministry, Government of India.

(SikkimMail)

Sikkim Forester Awarded Veitch Memorial Medal

KC Pradhan

Gangtok, July 4 (PTI) Sikkim Forester K C Pradhan, who has also served Sikkim as its chief secretary, will be the first Indian and the third Asian to receive the prestigious Veitch Memorial Medal of the Royal Horticulture Society of the United Kingdom.The name of Pradhan for this year's VMM along with three others was announced at the annual general meeting of the RHS on July one.Pradhan is being awarded "for his important role in developing the flower growing industry in India," a RHS release said here.The award, which will be presented by Princess Alexandra today at the Hampton Court Palace Premiere Flower Show, the largest flower show in the world, it said.The VMM is a prestigious prize issued annually by the Royal Horticulture Society to persons of any nationality who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement of science and practice of horticulture.Pradhan will, however, not be able to travel to England and the Medal will be received on his behalf by a nominee of the president of the RHS, it said.The VMM was instituted in 1870 in memory of James Veitch of Chelsea in UK.The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK's foremost gardening charity and is more than two centuries old. PTI

High-tech Green House at Majitar inaugurated

RANGPO, May 17: State Horticulture and Agriculture Minister Dawcho Lepcha yesterday inaugurated the High-Tech Green House at Majitar, few kilometres from here.

Commerce Minister Niru Sewa was also present as special guest of the programme along with Rangpo Nagar Panchayat members, department officers, staff and progressive farmers of West Pendam constituency.
After the inauguration, the Ministers and the department officials visited the work place of Horticulture department.On the occasion, 17 beneficiaries from Majitar were given work order in carnation flower cultivation project along with Rs 63,500 each. New technology machines like spray, cutter digger etc were also demonstrated by the department officials.

The chief guest in his address while appreciating the initiative taken by the progressive farmers requested all the farmers to come forward and support the government in making the State a purely organic state within 2015.
Ms Sewa also urged the educated youth to work in the field of cultivation

Sikkim Government help to families affected due to hailstorm @Gangtok

Gangtok, 4 May (PTI) The hailstorm that lashed Sikkim on April 27 has caused extensive damage to crops, especially kharif, affecting about 3,000 families, Horticulture and Cash Crops Development department said today.

The department held two consecutive meetings on April 29 and 30 to review the progress of various schemes and modify strategies for development programmes.
It has been decided to immediately provide vegetable seeds and other logistic support to salvage the situation, besides providing UV film to repair the damaged greenhouse (a structure in which temperature and humidity can be controlled for the cultivation or protection of plants), the department stated in a release.
The total damage includes standing bulbs which could have yielded up to Rs 50,000.
This storm has caused a major setback to the advancement of horticulture, which had emerged as the single most viable option for rural prosperity, it said.

3RD INTERNATIONAL FLORA EXPO INAUGURATED

LARGE SCOPE FOR GROWTH IN FLORICULTURE: UNION AGRICULTURE MINISTER

The floriculture industry has vast potential for generating income and employment and enhancing export earnings and this sector is growing at a fast pace, helped by recent initiatives launched by the Government. Stating this at the inauguration of the 3rd International Flora Expo here today, Agriculture Minister Shri Sharad pawar mentioned the contribution of National Horticulture Mission launched last year and the Technology Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture in the North Eastern States in 2001-02. During the last two years, nearly Rs. 68 crore has been resulting to the states for expansion of area under flower cultivation, resulting in about 22,000 hectares of additional area coming under floriculture production. Centres for organized floriculture have emerged in many parts of the country, including Bangalore, Pune and Nasik. Mizoram, Meghalaya and Sikkim have entered export and domestic markets in this field. The domestic market of flowers and ornamental plants fetches nearly Rs. 10,000 million for cultivators, the Minister informed. Since there is no organized market for flowers at present, the increasing popularity of retail markets, particularly of perishables, is likely to provide a fillip to the domestic floriculture industry. Setting up of six Agri Export Zones for floriculture, besides a large number of flower clusters under NHM, is expected to provide further impetus to the domestic and international trade of floriculture products in the coming years, Shri Pawar said. Delineating the growth of floriculture exports, the Minister said that flower exports have recorded a robust growth from Rs. 188 million in 1993-94 to over Rs. 4000 million in 2006-07 and now India’s share in floriculture export is about 2% of the total agri-export basket. Our fresh flowers are reaching about 87 countries with a significant share going to countries like Australia, UK, Japan, Netherlands and UAE. During the last ten years, there has been an exponential growth in the earning through the marketing of floriculture products, both in the domestic and international markets. This has been achieved despite stiff competition from many of the flower exporting countries and high domestic freight charges on floriculture products. The Minister also invited entrepreneurs from other countries to take advantage of the government’s policies and take up commercial ventures in floriculture in India. He said that liberalization of industrial and trade policies has paved the way for export-oriented production of cut flowers. Besides, since 2006, the Government has permitted 100% Foreign Direct Investment in the floriculture sector.

Sikkim eyes horticulture promotion

GANGTOK: Banking on the state’s potential in the sector, Sikkim has chalked out various plans to promote horticulture in the state. As part of this, district-level co-operative societies and an ad hoc state-level producers’ apex cooperative body for marketing various horticultural products have been set up. A decision to this effect was taken at a state-level growers’ meeting for horticultural producers organised by the department of horticulture and cash crops development. The meeting deliberated in detail the ways and means to get best deal for farmers, and also addressed problems and issues faced by them. Sikkim had always set an exemplary standard in agriculture and farming, which needed to be given even more impetus in order to meet the challenges of current market demands. Despite good production, the marketing of horticultural products in the state has not come up to expectation. The apex committee will focus on bringing new and innovative ideas for a solid marketing strategy outside of the State. The farmers were also advised to ensure quality production. The point was also made at the meeting that despite quality horticulture produce, farmers often incurred huge losses due to lack of proper marketing. According to the farmers, there were times when they had to sell their produce at almost zero profit. The need for cold storage facilities, setting up of outlets to market the produce within the state and outside it, and the need for a wider marketing network were also discussed at the meeting. The Sikkim government has set up a Rs 4-crore facility in the Greater Kailash area of New Delhi, with facilities such as cold storage rooms and a marketing outlet. However, the facility had not been able to function as expected and was running at a loss. It was decided that the facility in New Delhi would be leased out to a private organisation.

The Horticulture Growers Meet @ Gangtok

Programme to stress on flori-culture and special crop patterns

Gangtok: The Horticulture Growers Meet was held today at ChintanBhawan under the banner of department of horticulture, government of Sikkim to discuss plans to form an 'Apex Co-Operative Society for marketing various horticulture produce of Sikkim.The meet is Chaired by agriculture minister Shri Somnath Paudyal.

The imminent personalities in horticulture and floriculture Smt. Tika Maya Chamling grace the occasion as Chief guest while Shri K.C.Pradhan as special guest attended the Meet along with Secretary agriculture R.Telang,IAS.

It was informed more than 5000 groups involving 50000 families are now actively engaged in field of this specialized agriculture in state.

The Sikkim horticulture and cash crops development department has become the first government agency to implement the state self-reliance mission undertaken by the government. The department has started conducting training sessions across the state to augment human resource.

“The objective of the programme is to develop skilled, competitive, versatile and technically competent manpower. It will also enable them to harness potential opportunities for attaining self-sufficiency and contribute towards effective resource management and policy decisions,” said Somnath Poudyal, the horticulture and cash crops development minister. The training programme initiated there included construction of green houses and its management, pest management and technology.

The training will cover 18 agriculture disciplines with emphasis on floriculture, off-season vegetables and protected cultivation. This capacity development exercise will stress on effective utilisation of natural resource focusing on production of “high value-low volume” crops and switch to non-traditional cropping patterns.
In order to make this capacity development programme a success, officials in the rank of additional director have been designated as nodal officers in each subdivision.
To drive home the importance of this initiative and popularise the schemes, people — youths, entrepreneurs and farmers — who have completed this training exercise will be given preference in government benefits and schemes.

Secretary R.Telang called upon gathering to get involved also in ancillary activities like cold-storage, scientific produce packaging as well as need to further augment easy financial loans from banking sector in state in field of horticulture and floriculture.