Discussions were held on to develop the technology for intercropping in garden oil palm

The ’Virtual 30th Annual Group Meeting of All India Coordinated Research Project on Palms’ was recently organised by the ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod, Kerala.

In his valedictory address, Dr Anand Kumar Singh, Deputy Director General (Horticultural Science), ICAR emphasised the need of developing the technology for intercropping in the oil palm garden to enhance the farmers’ income. The Chief Guest, Dr BK Pandey, ADG (Horticultural Science – II), ICAR envisaged the need for the collection, conservation and evaluation of the trait-specific germplasm devoid of duplicates, enhancing input use efficiency with special reference to micronutrients and identification of alternatives for red labelled chemicals towards hassle-free plant protection.

The ADG also stressed the demonstration of cutting-edge research technologies to the farm front through KVKs of the states and the digitisation of data for easy reference by the scientists.

Delivering the welcome address, Dr Anitha Karun, Director & Project Coordinator, ICAR-CPCRI, Kasaragod presented the report of the ICAR-AICRP on Palms for the Year – 2020-2021.

About 72 participants from the different ICAR-AICRP Centres and ICAR-CPCRI virtually participated in the meeting.