New Delhi, May 12: The Government of the Union has sanctioned RS. 84 Lakhs scheme to rehabilitate citrus orchards in decline in many parts of the country and popularization of high density plantation. Citrus cultivation faces a crisis due to the fall in productivity as a result of citrus killing and the area under citrus Haas remained the stagnant duration in the last 20 years. Around 1,40,000 hectares are under citrus. The performance has become new areas such as Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Western Uttar Pradesh because or citrus died, while it has already affected the OD industry in Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Kerala. Sweet orange plantations in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan face a virus problem along with bad handling practices of the garden, resulting in a performance drop. The new scheme will try to popularize a package of practices that would help rehabilitate the orchards in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and Kerala, where tangerine oranges are widely. The scheme will also try to popularize high density plantation, so it is possible to plant 450 seedlings per hectare against 250 previously. Experiments at Cothalli and Dhaula Kuan Citrus Research Stations (Himachal Pradesh) have to high density plantation would increase productivity by 50 percent. A survey conducted by the Institute of Foreign Trade had shown that India should be able to export 5,000 tons of orange and an equal amount of acid lime by 1975-76 to Europe, Western Asia and Southeast Asia.
Published – May 13, 2025 03:22 am istt