Why in the News?
The government has announced the establishment of 9 Clean Plant Centres across the country as part of the recently approved Rs 1,765.67 crore Clean Plant Programme (CPP).
What is Clean Plant Programme (CPP)?
- Launch: Cleared by the Union Cabinet in August 2024 with an outlay of ₹1,765.67 crore, supported by a $98 million Asian Development Bank loan.
- Implementation: Led by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare through the National Horticulture Board (NHB), with technical support from ICAR.
- Objective: Supply virus-free, high-quality planting material to improve crop yield, quality, and farmer incomes in horticulture.
- Scope: Focus on fruit crops such as grapes, oranges, pomegranates, apples, and citrus.
Key Features:
- Centres: Establishment of 9 Clean Plant Centres (CPCs) across India; three in Maharashtra – Pune (grapes), Nagpur (oranges), Solapur (pomegranates).
- Research Hub: National-level laboratory in Pune for original plant species research.
- Financial Aid: ₹3 crore for large nurseries, ₹1.5 crore for medium nurseries; target of 8 crore disease-free seedlings annually.
- Certification & Traceability: Strong framework to ensure disease-free mother plants and regulated propagation.
- Global Cooperation: Collaboration with Israel and the Netherlands for clean plant technologies.
- Policy Alignment: Supports Mission LiFE, One Health, and Viksit Bharat 2047.
On-Ground Progress:
- Dedicated Website: Launched as central hub – cpp-beta.nhb.gov.in.
- Hazard Analysis:
- Grapevine: 578 samples tested from multiple states.
- Apple: 535 samples under testing from Himalayan and northern states.
- Citrus:Â Hazard profiling preparations underway.
- Assessments: ICAR, NHB, and ADB conducted lab and nursery visits (2024–25) to strengthen diagnostics and bioinformatics using High-Throughput Sequencing (HTS).
- Propagation Protocol: Negative samples re-tested; positive ones treated with tissue culture, heat, or cryotherapy before propagation.
- Infrastructure: First Clean Plant Centre underway; design bidding initiated.
| [UPSC 2011] With what purpose is the GoI promoting the concept of “Mega Food Parks”?
1. To provide good infrastructure facilities for the food processing industry. 2. To increase the processing of perishable items and reduce wastage. 3. To provide emerging and eco-friendly food processing technologies to entrepreneurs. Select the correct answer using the code given below: Options: (a) 1 only (b) 1 and 2 only* (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 |
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