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JONATHAN POWER'S
| Canary Islands provides technical advice lychee cultivation |
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| Tuesday, 29 November 2011 23:49 | |||
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The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Water of the Canary Islands` Government, through the Canary Islands Institute of Agricultural Research (ICIA), provides technical advice on lychee cultivation in India through a United Nations program, United Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), to improve productivity and quality of this crop in the region of Bihar, the main fruit producing state. The FAO has appointed ICIA investigator, Victor Galan, Doctor agronomist and consultant of this organization, as the project director, who's two researchers work directly in the Republic of India in the areas of preharvest and postharvest, according to the regional government in a press release.
The Canary Islands are participating in this initiative with the contribution of a lychee phylogenetic heritage, a varietal collection consisting of some 40 varieties collected over the last decades.
This is due to research, that Professor Galán Sauco and his team have developed, as well as with particular collections in Australia, Israel, Florida and Hawaii, among other places, and has been located at the premises of the ICIA in Cueva del Polvo, Guia de Isora.
The project is considered "particularly innovative" because it represents the "first introduction" of lychee varieties in India, after the country achieved independence (1947).
The ICIA has advanced in recent years in the development of experimental programs in the introduction of litchi cultivation, for which it has had several holdings on the islands, and has continued with the exchange of varieties with different countries, such as, Brazil.
The region of Bihar, northeast of the country, is the main lychee producer in
India, it has 56,200 hectares for cultivation, a range that exceeds total crop in the the Canary Islands (41546.1 ha), which goes to one of its main crops, banana, some 9,000 hectares.
With this project India aims to broaden the genetic base of cultivars and extend the
harvest season of this fruit to give more projection to its market, which currently stands at home.
Source: Canariasahora
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