Paithan’s citrus estate moved to Isarwadi due to lack of space
VAIBHAV PARWAT
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The Citrus Estate and Centre of Excellence for Mosambi (sweet lime) cultivation, initially planned for the Paithan tehsil fruit nursery in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, will now be set up in the premises of the seed production centre in Isarwadi, covering an area of 22.50 hectares. The decision was made due to the inadequate area in Paithan for the proposed estate.
Mosambi is cultivated on around 40,000 hectares of land in Marathwada, with 21,525 hectares in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and 14,325 hectares in Jalna district. The government has allocated a fund of Rs 43.79 crores for the establishment of the Citrus Estate. The aim of the estate will be to create high technology based nurseries to produce adequate quantities of high quality cuttings free from diseases and pests of Mosambi fruit crop, provide training and crop demonstration to farmers for quality production and scientific cultivation of Mosambi. An ordinance has been passed by the department of agriculture, on March 6, 2023, to approve the site of the seed centre in Isarwadi for citrus estate. The government hopes to start work on the estate soon.
What will the centre consists
The citrus estate will consist of a hi-tech nursery, soil, water, tissue, and leaf isolation laboratories, input sales centre, grading, packing, storage and cold storage, tools bank, horticulturist, plant pathologist, entomologist and soil tester. Also, the facility of providing the services of scientists to the farmers from the university will be provided through this citrus estate.
Centre of excellence
Under the Centre of Excellence, Indo-Israel technology will be used. The centre will have a total of 154 trees of eight varieties, while a total of 80 trees of three varieties. The total cost of this centre on 4.50 hectares will be Rs 12.83 crore. The objectives of the centre are to grow exportable sweet lime, increase productivity up to 30 tonnes per hectare, produce quality seedlings, establish ideal nurseries, create infrastructure for post-harvest management, promote mechanized pruning and spacing of orchards to reduce labor costs.