The ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu in collaboration with ICAR-Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research and M/s.Jain Irrigation systems Limited, Jalgaon, Maharashtra organized a National Seminar on “Recent Technological Advancements in Banana Production and Value Addition at ICAR-IISR, Lucknow. On 29th September, 2023. Around 250 farmers from different parts of Uttar Pradesh participated. The Chief guest, Shri. Manoj Kumar Singh, IAS, Agriculture Production Commissioner, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh briefed the farmers about the good irrigation facility and soil fertility both of which are suitable for banana cultivation. He briefed that Govt. of Uttar Pradesh is also planning to establish tissue culture facility in Uttar Pradesh in collaboration with ICAR-NRC banana along with private firms like M/s.JISL, Maharashtra for quality planting material production and facilitate its distribution to the farming community at a subsidized cost.
Dr. V.B.Patel, Assistant Director General (Fruits and Plantation crops), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, Guest of Honour of the function, advised the farmers to go for crop diversification with banana as it guarantees a better price for the product. Post harvest and value addition in banana opens up better and wider avenues for entrepreneurship development. Dr.Damodaran, Director, CISH, Lucknow encouraged the farmers for banana cultivation without fearing for the newly emerging fusarium wilt disease on Grand Naine by using FUSICONT, a biocontrol agent for its effective management. Shri.K.B.Patil from JISL, reiterated the significance of automation in drip irrigation which saves 30% water and 20% fertilizers and 20% higher yield compared to manual drip irrigation. He advised the farmers to go for June-July month planting to avoid cold injury and disease incidence. Professor H.B.Singh appreciated the efforts of ICAR-NRCB, Trichy in reaching out the farmers of Uttar Pradesh. He said that Banaras Hindu University has developed an effective biocontrol agents consisting of an endophytic bacterium for the management of plant diseases.
In the Presidential address, Dr.Selvarajan, Director ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, highlighted the achievements made by the Institute in doubling the farmers income since thirty years of its existence. He indicated the development of climate resilient banana varieties at ICAR-NRCB like Kaveri Saba which is both salt and drought tolerant. He said that the Centre has developed panama wilt resistant Grand Naine variant which can be distributed to the farmers of UP to tackle the fusarium wilt disease. He talked about the importance of Banana Shakti, a micronutrient mixture available with the centre for banana cultivation. The centre has also technologies for the production of more than 45 value added products in banana inclusive of low fat chips, salt free pickles, flour based health snacks, ripe banana powder etc., The Centre has developed a microbial consortium “NO-2 -Wilt” for the effective management of Fusarium wilt disease in banana and also Kaveri Microbial Consortium (KMC) for the better growth and yield of banana. During the function, chief guest released both the Hindi and English versions of the Technical Folder entitled Fusarium wilt disease in banana and its management by IDM practices.
During the technical session, comprehensive coverage of banana cultivation, high density planting systems, nutrient management including fertilizer equation, automation, varietal wealth and Integrated management of fusarium wilt and erwinial rot and value addition were deliberated by Drs. V. Kumar, R. Thangavelu, M.S. Saraswathi, K.J. Jeyabaskaran, M. Logantathan and P. Suresh Kumar. Dr.Dinesh Singh, Project Co-ordinator (sugarcane) ICAR-IISR, Lucknow welcomed the gathering and Dr. Dinesh Singh, Principal Scientist and Head, Crop Production, ICAR-IISR, Lucknow, proposed the vote of thanks to all the esteemed guests and farmers.