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Farm festival to unveil fruits of technology

Photo: T. Singaravelou

All decked up: Flowers arranged for the ‘27th Flower, Vegetable, Fruit Show and Farm Fest 2008’ at the Botonical Garden in Puducherry. —

PUDUCHERRY: The 27th ‘Flower, Vegetable, Fruit Show and Farm Fest 2008’ will begin at the Botanical Garden here on Friday.

The fest, an annual event of the Department of Agriculture to promote horticulture, will showcase a variety of flowers, fruits and vegetables.

Besides the display of the items, various government departments and private institutions will display models of latest technologies in the farm sector, particularly the ones used in horticulture.

A variety of new seeds, fertilizers, farm equipment, tissue culture plants and other value-added agriculture products would be displayed at the three-day event,

Minister for Power and Industries V. Vaithialingam, who also holds the Agriculture portfolio, said in a release.

On the objective of the event, Mr. Vaithialingam said the initiative was part of the department’s effort to increase farm productivity and achieve 4 per cent growth rate in the agriculture sector.

“There is a definite need to change the farm strategy and adopt need-based, site-based system and technology improvement to achieve high growth rate,” he said.

Several competitions for farmers, individuals and institutions have been lined up for the event, he said, adding that based on the overall performance in the competitions, the ‘King’ and ‘Queen’ of the show would be selected.

The winners of the competitions would be given attractive prizes.

To attract more farmers to the event, the number of prizes have been increased this year, Mr. Vaithialingam said.

An added feature of the fest is the proposed live demonstration of methods to prepare organic manure, vermicomposting, making of coconut fibre and seed germination chamber, he said.

The government would incur an expenditure of Rs. 30 lakh for conducting the event, the Minister said. Visitors could purchase plants at a subsidised rate.

The Minister would also inaugurate the Ethano Medicinal Park during the fest.

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