Nagpur: Central Citrus Research Institute (CCRI) on Thursday requested Vidarbha Development Board (VDB) to allocate Rs65 crore for development of citrus in Vidarbha . The money can fund 10 lakh disease free plants of citrus, one referral laboratory, four processing units along with training for 15,000 farmers over five years. The fund can be distributed between CCRI, Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, and Krishi Vigyan Kendras.This is part of the action plan suggested by CCRI in a report for VDB. The report also suggests that Nabard should increase its credit to orange growers and increase the per plant cost from existing Rs260 to Rs435 to make up for the increased cost of production. There are 3 crore citrus trees in Vidarbha. With this increase, the total burden on banks will increase to Rs580 crore only for citrus cultivation in region.MS Ladaniya, CCRI director, said the plan includes establishment of seven nurseries in Amravati district, six in Nagpur, and two each in Akola, Wardha and Buldhana. These nurseries will produce 50,000 planting materials each. Each nursery costing Rs2 crore can be established within two years from the date of release of funds. Thus 9,50,000 plants can be produced annually to meet demands. It will generate jobs for 300 people.The action plan suggests a referral laboratory costing Rs2 crore for indexing of nursery plants, mother trees and diagnosis of diseases. The plan includes setting up of four processing units, one each in Nagpur, Amravati, Wardha and Akola at a cost of Rs5 crore each. The financial support from Maharashtra Agro-Industry Development Corporation (MAIDC), will help farmer producer companies and Orange Growers Association to produce ready-to-serve beverages, carbonated beverages, squash etc. Around 6 to 10,000 tonne fruits can be processed every year.“There is a need for skill development of farmers. A five-year programme to train 15000 farmers from 27 citrus growing talukas would cost Rs6 crore only. Thus an extensive plan can be created to train farmers over the years,” said Ladaniya.The other benefits of the action plan include bringing 1,800-hectare land under disease free planting material every year and improvement in production technologies by farmers.Report also suggests holding orange festivals in big cities like Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Solapur, Kolhapur, Aurangabad etc.

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