Hon’ble Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Shri Harish Rawat inaugurated the newly constructed buildings at the upcoming Floriculture Research & Extension Centre of VCSG Uttarakhand University of Horticulture & Forestry at Selaqui. Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Shri Rawat asserted that the Government was committed towards development of agriculture and horticulture in the state. He said that floriculture was a thrust area in agriculture for the government and there was a great potential for Uttarakhand to grow in floriculture. The Hon’ble CM called upon the agriculture scientists to focus on products that could easily be acceptable and adaptable by the farmers. He further called upon them to work towards bringing down the cost of polyhouses and such other infrastructure so that it could become more affordable for farmers. Expressing his happiness over the establishment of Floriculture Research Centre of Bharsar University at Selaqui, he hoped that the centre would come out with research solutions in floriculture sector, and would serve the farmers of the state well and they would be able to learn advanced floriculture techniques at the Centre, which would help them to augment their incomes.

Hon’ble Agriculture Minister Dr. Harak Singh Rawat asserted that despite being new, the university had several notable achievements to its credit. He added that the farmers would greatly benefit from the upcoming Floriculture Research Centre of the university at Selaqui. He said, floriculture is on his priority list, and various measures are being taken by his Ministry for marketing of flowers in Delhi as well as other auction centres in the country. He mentioned that the flower products also had great potential.

On this occasion, Bharsar Fruit Harvester developed by Hon’ble Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof Matthew Prasad and fabricated by Shri Ateek Ahmed at Shoban Engineering Works was also launched by the CM. The fruit harvester is a battery operated auto-mechanical device to harvest fruits from the trees and can greatly reduce the toil of the orchardists. The CM also released a book titled, “Food, Horti-Forestry Resources of Western Himalaya” authored by Dr AS Bisht, Dr. KD Sharma and Prof. Matthew Prasad.

Speaking about the upcoming Floriculture & Research Centre of the University at Selaqui, Prof Matthew Prasad, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor of Bharsar University, said that the buildings had been constructed under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) scheme. He added that the University aimed to develop a hi-tech centre for production of quality planting material for floriculture under protected cultivation at Selaqui. Besides this, senior scientists and experts on floriculture would also help farmers from the state to develop their skills in respect of floriculture.

He further added that The Centre will propagate high quality flower seeds, flower bulbs and plants under protected conditions as it is being equipped with poly-carbonate green houses and poly-houses and will be also equipped with state of the art laboratories for this purpose.

Director Research of the University, Prof Arvind Shukla highlighted the objectives of the Floriculture Centre at Selaqui Research Centre of the University. The meeting was also addressed by the Hon’ble MLA Sahaspur, Sahdev Pundir. Vote on thanks was proposed by Dr YS Bartwal, Registrar of the University. Those present on the occasion included noted environmentalist Padma Shri Dr. Anil P Joshi, Agriculture Advisor, Dr. CS Mehra, Director Agriculture, Dr. Gauri Shankar and Director Horticulture, Dr. BS Negi.

Source: Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry