Avocado, dragon fruit, blueberry to be grown under ADB project

Exotic fruits like avocado, blueberry, dragon fruit and macadamia nut will be grown under the Himachal Pradesh Sub-tropical Horticulture, Irrigation and Value Addition (SHIVA) project funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB). Initially, only fruits like orange, guava, mango, pomegranate, litchi, plum, persimmons and pecan nuts were to be grown under the Rs 1,292 crore project. “We have sent a proposal for planting these fruit saplings to Asian Development Bank. The bank has approved the proposal in principle. Once the formalities are completed, we will start the plantation of these fruit saplings,” said Devender Thakur, Project Director.

The objective of the project is to plant more than one crore fruit saplings in Sirmaur, Solan, Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra and Mandi districts to boost the production of sub-tropical fruits and add variety to the fruit bowl of the state. At present, temperate zone fruits, mainly apple and stone fruits, dominate the fruit basket of the state.

These four exotic fruits will add more variety to the fruit basket of the state. “We have done a market study and a crop suitability study before taking the decision to plant these fruit saplings under the SHIVA project. The result of both surveys was positive,” said Thakur. “We will import improved varieties of these fruit varieties and also use some varieties available in the country,” he added.

Under the project, fruit saplings will be planted in 400 clusters spread over 6,000 hectares. Besides, 162 irrigation schemes will be set up under the project. “The work on 136 irrigation schemes is already underway. These schemes will cover 215 clusters on around 3,000 hectares,” said Thakur.

The Project Director said that plantation in 55 clusters had either been completed or underway. “The project is moving ahead as per the schedule. It has been just one year since the project started, but we have already made a good progress,” he added.