ICAR-NRC for Banana Licenses & Transfers Farmers’-friendly Macro-propagation Technology to Jarvi Nursery

The ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu together with its associate partner - Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat has licensed & transferred a Farmers’-friendly Macropropagation Technology to the Gujarat-based Jarvi Nursery.

Director of ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli & Inventor of the Technology, Dr. S. Uma termed the technology transfer as very unique as this ICAR-NRC for Banana developed Technology was tested under the All India Coordinated Research Project-Fruits, Bengaluru and provided to the farmers.

She underlined that before commercialization, the technology was tested in Karnataka, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal and Bihar representing the different agro-climatic zones for its viability.

Dr. Uma underlined that the Technology’s success has been witnessed and technological know how has been provided to the farmers of all the States.

For the requirement of roughly 3,500 Million Plants, the Tissue Cultured Industries contribute only 15 percent and the remaining 85 percent is catered through the conventional suckers. With the presence of dreadful diseases like viral, wilt and nematodes, the higher demand of quality planting material could be fulfilled by the adoption of alternate technologies.

Thus, the ICAR-NRC for Banana developed low-cost and Farmers’-Friendly Banana Nursery Technology is a boon to meet the planting material demand.

Principal Scientists & Co-Inventors of the Technology, Dr. S. Backiyarani and Dr. M.S. Saraswathi outlined that the minimum of 25 healthy, true to type, disease free plants can be obtained from the single sucker within the period of three to four months and throughout the Year without any seasonal barriers.

(Source: ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tamil Nadu)