There has been a decrease in fruit nurseries in Sindh while mango plantations are being cut for various reasons.
Tandojam
The Horticulture Department of Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) has introduced modern technology of short-period mango transplanting and advised the farmers to adopt the new technology for saving time and money.
The SAU experts have developed disease-free mango plants nursery for the farmers of the province.
The university organized an awareness seminar on Friday where the experts gave briefing on the new technology.
They emphasized imparting the training to the peasants and agri-labor force for mango plantation and suggested for joint research for the availability of climate tolerant plants, and linkages among farmers, industry and academia to modernize the horticulture sector.
An awareness seminar titled “Epicotyls grafting: an efficient propagation method in mango” was held in the Senate Hall of Sindh Agriculture University.
Presenting her paper at the seminar Professor, Department of Horticulture, Dr. Noorunisa Memon, said that getting a disease free nursery for mango orchards has now become a challenge. “We have to work on disease free plants.”
“We have introduced the modern technology of mango transplanting, in which after planting mango stone for the new sapling, it will be possible to transplant the other variety in a native plant during its one month growing period, and with this new technology, better production results will be achieved and the time and costs of the farmers will also be reduced,” she said.
Dr. Fateh Marri, Vice Chancellor, SAU praised the research efforts of Dr. Noorunisa Memon and her MSc student Muzamil Farooq Jamali and said that there has been a lot of positive development in agriculture, according to required standards of the domestic and global market.
“Progressive farmers and agro-based industry should provide paid supervised internship opportunities for our graduates to implement modern agricultural technology,” he urged.
Mukhtiar Ahmed Channa, Executive Director of Horticulture Research Institute Mirpurkhas said that there has been a decrease in fruit nurseries in Sindh while mango plantations are being cut for various reasons.
He said due to recent floods, the mango orchards suffered a lot of damage, but some of the varieties have proved to be tolerant of salinity in water and other effects.
Syed Mahmood Nawaz Shah, Senior Vice President of Sindh Abadgar Board and Progressive Farmer also spoke.
During the question and answer session, the participants said that the mangoes of Sindh have a business of billions of rupees through local and international market and also fulfill the needs of the industry for by-products, therefore, there is a need to train the manpower involved from plantation to market and export.
Dean CPD Professor Dr. Inayatullah Rajpar, Chairperson of Horticulture Department Dr. Saba Ambreen Memon, Dr. Tanveer Fatima Miano, Progressive farmers Junaid Hayder Shah, Ghulam Sarwer Panhwer, and a number of teachers, students, farmers and orchard workers were present in the seminar. (PR)
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