1,500 ha to be brought under poly house cultivation in Haryana

An additional area of 1,500 hectares will be brought under poly house cultivation in Haryana during the next five years so as to give a major fillip to horticultural activities in the state, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said today.
Speaking after inaugurating International Horti Expo 2014 here, he said that area under horticulture in the State has been increased from 3.55 lakh hectares to 4.38 lakh hectares from October 2009 to January 2014.
The Chief Minister said that Haryana is front-runner in implementing flagship programme -- National Horticulture Mission--under which the state farmers have been immensely benefited.
"Over Rs 550 crore has been provided to the farmers as subsidy for various horticulture activities during this period," he said.

Referring to the state initiatives for horticulture promotion, Hooda said that Centre of Excellence for vegetables has been set up in collaboration with Israel at Gharunda in Karnal district and another such centre of fruits has been set up at Mangiana in Sirsa district.
Apart from this, three more Indo-Israel projects--one on tropical fruits, second on bee-keeping and third on floriculture are being set up in Haryana at a total cost of Rs 34.60 crore.
The Chief Minister said that Haryana is promoting protected cultivation on large scale and so far 30.76 lakh square metre area has been covered under poly houses.