NATIONAL: KARNATAKA: HORTICULTURE & AGRICULTURE: Innovation on display at National Horticulture Fair (NHF) 2024 in IIHR

From seeds of different varieties of fruit, flower and vegetable plants to advanced technological advancements, are available at the 250 stalls put up at the fair.

For any horticulture enthusiasts in Bengaluru, from home gardeners to orchard owners, National Horticulture Fair (NHF) organised at Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) – Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) between March 5 and March 7 is the place to be.

From seeds of different varieties of fruit, flower and vegetable plants to advanced technological advancements, are available at the 250 stalls put up at the fair.

Innovative products like purple coloured ladies finger, dragon fruit juice, ready-to-eat jackfruit curry, millet health bars and jackfruit it seed and mushroom powder cookies are also available at the fair.

More than 30 agricultural institutes from 18 States are taking part in the fair. “Our Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) brought us to this fair. I had never been to an agricultural fair on such a large scale. I have spent more than half day just going through the stall here,” said Pradeep, a farmer from Sira taluk in Tumakuru who was at NHF on the inaugural day.

Arka Mealy Melt, which works against mealy bugs, which are soft oval insects which affect crops in even kitchen gardens, home gardens, landscapes and indoor gardens, is also among the new products developed by IIHR using technology. The product will help dissolve the mealy bug wax due to which hinders the penetration of insecticides to work against the bugs.

On the first day of NHF, around 20,000 people were in attendance while on the second day, around 25,000 people thronged the IIHR premises.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: HORTICULTURE: National Horticulture Fair (NHF2023) Organised by ICAR and IIHR begins Packed with Activities to have Stalls, Workshops and Conferences Feb 22 to 25

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)