Gaibandha horticulture centre produces varieties of fruits

GAIBANDHA, Mar 16 (BSS): The official activities of horticulture centre under the Agriculture Ministry have been continuing in the district since March, 2018 amid much enthusiasm to the concerned.
Office sources said the government took a decision to set up nine horticulture centre in addition to 77 ones across the country under Year Round Fruit Production for Nutrition Improvement Project designed for five years till June 2021.
Accordingly, the centre was established in the district in March last year and since then, the activities have been going on at the old office of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) at Khamarbari of the town here on temporary basis.
The permanent Bhaban for the HC is being built on 15.46 acres of land of Agriculture Training Institute campus located at Bangla Bazar on V-AID Road of the town and the construction work is nearly completion, sources said.
Office building, training centre, mother plants orchard and sapling production orchard will have in the centre, said an official.
Senior horticulturist Dr Saykhul Arifin said the main objective of the centre establishment here was to produce fruits round the year to meet the demand of nutrition side by side with women empowerment and creating working opportunities to eradicate poverty.
Fruits like mango, blackberry, jackfruit and litchi are available in Bangla three months of Baishakh, Joistho and Ashar and the fruits are not available in rest nine months of the year, he also said.
They would take initiatives to produce early and late varieties of fruit through selling the saplings of the early and late varieties trees to the people so that they could get fruits from the trees the rest nine months of the year, he added.
Apart from it, they would set up demonstration plots and arrange field-day for the farmers to make them interested to establishing fruits orchard on their land, he further added.