Launch of mobile applications providing information on banana and its cultivation, presentation of awards to banana farmers, scientists, and entrepreneurs, release of postal cover and inauguration of a banana expo marked the opening of a four-day international conference on banana here on Saturday.
Organised by the National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB), an institution under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), in association with Bioversity International, the meet is being organised on the theme, ‘Innovations in sustainable production and value chain management in banana.’ The meet will also focus on invasive fusarium wilt tropical race 4 (Foc TR4) disease in banana.
Four mobile applications developed by NRCB for the benefit of stakeholders such as farmers, extension workers, entrepreneurs, tissue culture companies, exporters, consumers, students and scientists were formally launched on the occasion. The Apps on banana information (providing A to Z details on the fruit), production technology, banana export and value addition, and pest and disease management have been developed separately in English and Tamil. The Apps would be available for public in the next few days after some fine-tuning. The Apps were launched by A.K. Singh, Deputy Director General (Horticulture), ICAR.
Earlier, Collector S.Sivarasu declared open a banana expo, featuring an array of banana bunches of different varieties, including hill and wild bananas, from across the country. The exhibition, at the Kalaiarangam complex, also featured stalls displaying value added products made out of banana including biscuits, pickles, juice and other edible products, and cloth material made of banana fibre.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the conference, Mr. Singh underlined the need for increasing banana production and productivity in the country to meet the anticipated rise in demand in the coming decades. Banana was a significant crop in the country and cultivation of the fruit has made rapid strides. Productivity has improved thanks to technologies developed by the research institutions which upon successful field demonstration had given the confidence to farmers to adopt them on a large scale, he said. He also called for steps to ensure that there was no dominance of single variety such as Grand Naine in the total cultivated area in the country.
K. Alagusundaram, Deputy Director General (Engineering), ICAR, laid emphasis on adopting proper post harvest technology to ensure the harvested fruits were properly handled, transported and stored till it reaches the consumer.
N. Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University; W.S. Dhillon, Assistant Deputy Director (Horticulture), ICAR; N.K. Krishnakumar, Country Representative, The Alliance Bioversity International-CIAT; S. Uma, Director, NRCB; and B. Padmanaban, Principal Scientist, spoke.
Mr. Kumar, and H.P.Singh, former Director, NRCB and Deputy Director General (Horticulture), ICAR, were presented with Life Time Achievement Awards by the NRCB on the occasion. A similar award was conferred posthumously on Bhavarlal Hiralal Jain, founder, Jain Irrigation Systems.
Six distinguished scientists, an equal number of banana growers, five banana entrepreneurs, two farmers producers companies and three research institutions also received awards.
Sumathi Ravichandran, Post Master General, Central Region, released a special cover with cancellation, commemorating 25 years of service of the NRCB. A liquid micro nutrient for banana crop, Banana Sakthi, and diagnostic kit for virus detection in banana were also released on the occasion.