Atmanirbhar Horticulture Clean Plant Programme

February 1, 2023

The Indian horticulture sector contributes 33% of the GVA of the country. The industry is labor intensive and therefore, a small push will increase employment opportunities exponentially. Today, only 10% of the Indian land is under horticultural use. But it contributes 33% of agricultural revenue. To increase the value of horticultural crops and to boost productivity, the GoI launched the “Atmanirbhat Horticulture Clean Plant Programme”. The main objective of the program is to increase the availability of disease-free plant material. This will help in improving the value of the horticultural crops. The GoI allocated Rs 2,200 crores for this scheme.

Why is the scheme called Clean Plant?

The GoI is to use only clean horticultural plants in this program. Also, it will promote the use of clean plants.

What are clean plants?

A clean plant means the plant has been tested for several things before planting. The testing made before planting is as follows:

Plants are checked for viruses, bacteria, or fungi. And those plants infected with these microorganisms are not planted
Plants that are economically important are put under the category of clean plants
Some of them shall even be maintained under controlled conditions for increased productivity

How are clean plants made?

There is a long process involved. First, the plants are checked for pathogens. Second, actively growing ones are identified. Then tissue samples are collected from these actively growing plants. These tissues are fused with other plants to increase their productivity as well.

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