Horticulture dept insists on registration of nurseries

Kalyandurgam (Anantapur): The department of Horticulture is educating farmers with regard to a new horticulture act requiring those who set up nurseries to register with the government.

In view of the mushrooming of hundreds of nurseries in the district, the horticulture task force is now engaged in visiting private nurseries and inspecting quality, and asking all promoters of nurseries to get themselves, registered with the government or face closure.

The Deputy Director of Horticulture Subbarayudu told The Hans India that the prices of plants also would be monitored once the nurseries are registered. Already 26 nurseries have registered themselves with the department.

The registration is mainly to monitor the quality of plants as also the prices. The department of Horticulture is also running its own nurseries for supply of plantation to farmers.

The department has a berry nursery in Hindupur, pomegranate in Kuderu, mango plants in Anantapur and papaya at Chigicherla. The department is also promoting low cost shade net nurseries by offering subsidies and incentives etc.

The district is emerging as the nurseries hub with hundreds of private nurseries operating in different parts of the district and catering to farmers and domestic requirements.

As one traverses towards down country in any route be it Kalyandurgam, Bellary, Bengaluru highway, Battalapalle, Penugonda, Kadiri and Hindupur areas, one can see hundreds of nurseries dotting the main routes of the mandals with thousands of saplings being raised under the shade net.

The farmers, who once depended on seeds, are now opting for nurseries which supply saplings. Of late, the demand is for 6-8 metre grown up plants to hasten the process of early production and to bring down the gestation period between sowing seed and yielding of fruit.

Horticulture farmers of mango, guava, papaya, musk melon, water melon, sweet cucumber, sapodilla (sapota), berry, pomegranate and sweet oranges etc are still dependent upon supplies from Kadiyam nurseries.

Even, the local shade net nurseries are dependent upon Kadiyam nurseries. Obuleshu and others running nurseries on the Kalyandurgam road says that every week lorry loads of plants arrive from Kadiyam.

The plants which are in demand include 10 feet long mango plants, guava, berry (neredu), banana and papaya plants which are ready for plantation.

These plants reach fruit-bearing stage within six months to one year and therefore are in high demand. They revealed that they invested Rs 4 lakh for setting up a nursery which includes pillars, trays, plastic sheets, bore-well and shade net etc.

In one acre, about 70 to 80 mango plants can be raised. Each farmer is purchasing 400 to 500 plants for raising a mango farm in four to five acres of land. Amarender Reddy, a farmer who purchased 400 mango plants from a nursery, says that horticulture plantation yields rich dividends in the long run despite the long gestation period of one year to three years.