ZEDUA, 28 Dec: Longding KVK Head Dr Utpal Kumar Bhattacharyya and its Agronomy ACTO A Kirankumar Singh visited farmers’ orchards in Zedua village on Wednesday.
The duo visited the pineapple orchards here and provided pineapple suckers to the farmers as part of the NEC-funded project titled ‘Integrated horticulture including fisheries for Northeast India’.
They assessed the orchards of different farmers and found that damages are being caused to the fruits by rodents and birds, and observed that “the orchards were not well-maintained in regards to weeds, due to which the rodents get the opportunity to burrow their nests in the orchard safely,” the KVK informed in a release.
The officials also found damage caused to fruits by birds, “which,” they said, “may lead up to 30 per cent of the fruit production from the orchard.”
The duo advised the farmers to ensure proper spacing of the fruit plants, and suggested that the orchards be kept free from weeds. They advised the farmers to prune the branches of the fruit trees “to keep the proper canopy of the fruit plants.”
“The litchi branches should be pruned after the harvest of the fruits, in order to get proper fruit-bearing in the next fruiting season,” they said.
