New Zealand experts train apple growers

Shimla, February 24

Horticulture Minister Jagat Singh Negi and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mohan Lal Brakta distributed master trainer certificates to 30 officers and 25 farmers in Mashobra today. The institutional master trainers training was conducted by international expert from New Zealand Plant Food And Research (NZPFR) Limited under the World Bank-funded HP Horticulture Development Project.

The technical experts from New Zealand Dr Steph Montgomery (programme manager), Dr Jack Hughes (plant physiologist), Dr Mike Nelson (nutrition expert) and Dr David Manktelow (plant protection) provided detailed training to the participants on the establishment and management of high density orchards and also gave practical field demonstration on management seedling based trees.

The main objective of hiring the experts was to strengthen the implementation capacities of the Department of Horticulture and farmers and improvement in productivity of apple fruit crops by disseminating relevant information and advanced technology use.

The experts have trained about 500 technical officers and 4,000 farmers by imparting institutional and hands-on trainings on various aspects like canopy management, crop load management, tree nutrition, trunk girdling, bending, notching, new orchard planting, irrigation management, insect and disease management, etc.