Pocharam to launch Ecofrost today

Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy will inaugurate ‘Ecofrost’, a solar-based storage system with a technology that can change the post-harvest management at the Centre of Excellence for Vegetables and Flowers at Jeedimetla on the outskirts of Hyderabad on at 9 am on Saturday.

The programme will continue with the training of urban public who are interested in urban farming and terrace gardening.

The Minister will also interact with the poly-house farmers and will inspect the development works done in the centre. Presently, exotic crops like strawberry, gerbera and carnation flowers, cucumber, tomatoes and seedless brinjal are cultivated.

The centre has also started recently cultivating orchid based on tissue culture. The nearby district farmers have started lifting of vegetable seedlings at a price of 25 paise for each seedling.

The hi-tech nursery and climate controlled greenhouse are fetching about six lakh qualitative seedlings at a stretch. The centre has become a hub for presentation of new and advanced cultivation methods for horticulture crops.

The open space in the centre is also utilised for cultivation of loose flowers like scented roses.

The produce of the centre is linked up with supermarket and also sold in open market to generate revenue for self sustainability, according to a release issued here on Friday.