The Rajastan horticulture department will soon be seen marketing Rajasthan orange under the brand ‘Raj Santara’. Nagpur Orange which gets sold by its name has wide presence in the state, Kota being its 98% producer.
“Opportunities of growing new varieties of oranges like Jaffa, Valencia and Daisy are also being explored,” Neelkamal Darbari, principal secretary agriculture and horticulture said.
The post harvesting investment possibilities will relate to projects for orange grading, waxing and packing also will be explored at the upcoming GRAM Kota, she said.
Among the 24 varieties developed are Clementine, Michale Daisy, Kinnow, Nagpur Mandarin, Nagpur Seedless, and Jaffa among others.
According to the department, Kota has outpaced all other cities in the state, Jhalawar district being the highest producer. Hence, there are plentiful opportunities for packaging and branding operations of the local oranges.
The Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Citrus Fruits at Nanta near Kota has proved to be a boon for the region considering that the citrus production of fruits is its strength. The climate is suitable for orange orchards. The centre is currently working on developing as many as 24 varieties of citrus fruits. Spread over 6.8 hectares, the primary objective of the centre is to develop citrus fruit saplings, said Darbari.
Darbari also informed that Israeli technology has been deployed to undergo plant development and orchard management.
The centre also aims in promoting mechanization in orchard operations. The development of intensive horticulture technologies, spreading awareness about post-harvest and value addition technologies, fertigation and irrigation management techniques are its long term goals, Darbari added.
Vijay Pal Singh, the director horticulture said that the project has the facilities of a primary nursery (plant grafting), open mother block (mother plants located outside the greenhouse)a second nursery (budding), protected mother block (nurturing mother plants).
