Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government will has decided to set up excellence centres and mini excellence centres/ hi-tech nurseries in all the 75 districts in the next five years to boost horticulture and food processing industry in the state. According to an official spokesman, hi-tech nurseries set up by the government at Bahraich, Ambedkar Nagar, Mau, Fatehpur, Aligarh, Rampur and Hapur have already become operational while centres of excellence are under construction in Chandauli, Kaushambhi, Saharanpur, Lucknow, Kushinagar and Hapur.
The Indo-Israel Centre for Excellence has been established in Basti and Kannauj for fruits and vegetables respectively, so that farmers can get quality seedlings. Furthermore, mini centres of excellence/hi-tech nurseries are under construction at Sonbhadra, Moradabad, Agra, Sant Kabir Nagar, Mahoba, Jhansi, Barabanki, Lucknow, Chandauli, Gonda, Balrampur, Badaun, Firozabad, Shamli and Mirzapur.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has set ambitious targets to increase the area of cultivation of horticultural crops from 11.6 per cent to 16 per cent and food processing units from 6 per cent to a whopping 20 per cent during the period in order to enhance the overall yield as well as processing of fruits, vegetables and spices. The government seeks to grow quality saplings and seeds at the excellence centres as well as hi-tech nurseries to increase production of quality crops.