CLEAN PLANT PROGRAM - GOVERNMENT SCHEME
News: Govt
plans 10 ‘Clean Plant Centers’ to boost fruit crop production
What's in the news?
● With
the growing demand for foreign planting materials of fruits like apple, avocado
and blueberry rising over the years, the Centre plans to set up 10 ‘Clean Plant
Centers’, on the lines of those in developed countries such as the US,
Netherlands and Israel, to boost domestic production of the selected crops.
Key takeaways:
● These
centers will be set up under the
‘Atmanirbhar Clean Plant Program’, which was announced by Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2023-24.
● The
concept of Clean Plant Centers is unique in itself and does not exist in India.
Clean Plant Program:
● The
program will be launched to boost the availability of disease-free, quality planting material for high value horticultural
crops.
Period:
2023-2030.
Administrative Control:
● National Horticulture
Board (NHB), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer's
Welfare.
Budget:
Central Sector Scheme - ₹2200 crores.
Objectives:
● To
get disease-free and genuine planting materials for horticultural crops in
India.
● To
reduce the import of plants.
● To
enhance the yield of horticulture crops,
● Disseminate
and adopt climate resilient varieties.
Clean Plant Program:
● The
10 centers will be established for fruit crops like apple, walnut, almond,
grapes, mango, pomegranate, etc., and will be fully funded by the Centre.
● The
centers will be implemented in a PPP
mode in partnership with research organizations, agriculture universities
and private sector partners.
Significance:
● The
process of importing plants is very cumbersome, as the imported plants must be
kept in quarantine for two years. After the establishment of the Clean Plant Centers,
this period will be reduced to six
months.
● The
Clean Plant Centers will provide services of disease diagnostic, therapeutics,
multiplying of plants and generation of mother plants.