Srinagar: Fifteenth Annual Group Meeting (AGM) of all India Network Research Project on Onion & Garlic (AINRPO&G) being jointly organized by ICAR- Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture, Srinagar and ICAR-Directorate of Onion & Garlic Research, Pune and started at ICAR-CITH Srinagar on 29th August 2024.
The inaugural session was chaired by Dr. K. E. Lawande, Former VC, Dr. BSKKV, Pune (Chief Guest), Dr. Major Singh, Member, ASRB (Guest Of Honour), Dr. Sudhakar Pandey, ADG (FVS & MP), Horticulture Science, ICAR, New Delh, (Guest of Honour), Dr. Vijay Mahajan, Director, ICAR-DOGR, Pune and Dr. M. K Verma, Director, CITH, Srinagar.
During AGM, different sessions on various aspects viz., crop improvement, crop production, crop protection and post-harvest management will be covered during next three days. The AGM inaugural session was attended by scientists from various centers of the project across India, officials from the department of Agriculture, scientists from ICAR-CITH, Srinagar and SKUAST-K Srinagar, progressive growers, students and researchers.
The inaugural session commenced with a warm welcome by Dr M.K Verma, Director ICAR-CITH. He expressed gratitude to all the participants, speakers, and organizers for their attendance and effort in bringing the annual meeting to fruition. Dr. Verma also highlighted the significance of the workshop’s theme and the relevance of the topics to be covered.
Dr. Vijay Mahajan, Director, ICAR-DOGR, Pune gave the detailed report of the project activities being carried out across all the centers of India. He informed that recently 30 varieties (onion and garlic) have been identified as suitable for cultivation at national level for different zones of the country. This includes one variety of Garlic (CITH-G-10), developed at ICAR-CITH Srinagar has been recommended for release in Hill zone-1 (J&K, HP, UK) of India.
Dr. Sudhakar Pandey, ADG highlighted the importance of Male Sterile lines and biotechnological interventions in developing high-yielding and pest and disease-resistant varieties. Dr. Major Singh, Member, ASRB informed that the glut and price fluctuation of onion has been brought under considerable control due to the efforts of the ICAR institutes and the Network project. Dr. K. E. Lawande, informed that efforts are underway to develop high-yielding hybrids in both crops.
Three publications on various aspects of the production and protection of Kashmiri chilli, cauliflower and Pran were released by the chief guest during the session. At last vote of thanks was delivered by Dr Geetika Malik, organizing secretary of the 15th AGM of AINRPO&G. Later, new technologies and varieties developed by ICAR-CITH Srinagar and some progressive farmers were shown to the participants.
