The National Horticulture Fair 2023 (NHF2023), which will be held between February 22 and 25 in Hesaraghatta on the outskirts of the city under the theme of ‘Innovative horticulture for self-reliance’, will be inaugurated by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar virtually on Wednesday at 12 p.m., said Sanjay Kumar Singh, Director of ICAR-IIHR and chairman of the organising committee NHF 2023.
The fair, being organised by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), will showcase latest technologies such as vegetable, flower and medicinal crop varieties for import substitution, pollination in protected cultivation, leaf curl virus resistant chilli varieties, carotenoid content rich marigold varieties, flower waste utilisation, terrace gardening solutions for urban horticulture, production technologies for exotic fruits such as dragon fruit and avocado and cost-effective traps for management of invasive pests, etc. for the benefit of horticulturists and other stakeholders during the NHF2023 at ICAR-IIHR.
The NHF-2023 will have 250 hi-tech stalls on various products and 50 nursery stalls, according to ICAR-IIHR officials.
Apart from this, officials said that special workshops and conferences on horticulture development on various aspects, including value added millet products, composting of bio-waste, urban horticulture, mushroom production and value addition, safe use of pesticides, preparation of incense sticks from floral waste and tribal horticulture, will be organised during the four-day fair.
Last year, the event was cancelled due to the pandemic, and in 2021, the fair was in a hybrid mode because of the pandemic. The institute is expecting about 50,000 farmers from various States of the country.
Hopcoms fair at Lalbagh
The Horticultural Producers’ Cooperative Marketing and Processing Society (Hopcoms) will oragnise grapes and watermelon mela at Lalbagh from Wednesday. Three to four varieties of watermelon and 13 to 15 varieties of grapes will be sold at the fair, according to a Hopcoms release.
source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)