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File Meghalaya
capital Shillong hosts an orange festival
Shillong (Meghalaya): Meghalaya capital Shillong
recently played host to an orange festival to popularise the fruit in the region.
Organised by a self help group, the festival was aimed at encouraging farmers
in the state to undertake orange cultivation. Meghalaya currently produces 40,000
tons of oranges annually, which is about five percent of the country's total output
of oranges. Most of the oranges are grown in the Khasi Hills in areas bordering
Bangladesh, and are known as "Khasi Mandarin". Farmers in the state are taking
to cultivation of other crops after facing difficulties in the cultivation of
oranges due to pests, diseases and a rough terrain. Concerned by the decline in
orange production, the festival provided a platform for farmers to interact with
each other and learn new cultivation techniques. Raphel Warjiri, one of the organisers
of the festival said that farmers are concerned that despite the popularity of
the "Khasi Mandarin" variety of orange, there has been a drop in production on
a daily basis. The festival also drew visitors in large numbers to look at the
oranges and the other variants like orange jams, jellies and juices. They also
got a chance to feast on the various delicacies made from orange and took oranges
for their friends living in other parts of the country. "This is encouraging for
all the people, especially to promote the oranges of our Khasi hills and this
is quite famous I brought these oranges because I'm going to Pune on the 11th
and I will share these oranges with my friends because the Khasi oranges are very
famous all over India," said R.P. Blah, a visitor. The highlight of the festival
was an orange eating competition, which attracted several enthusiasts. The participating
farmers also got an opportunity to interact with experts from Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Indian Citrus Research (ICR) at a workshop
organised during the festival on pest control and sustainable and systemized orchard
management.
-Jan 10, 2009
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