RAJSHAHI: The Rajshahi Court Horticulture Centre (RCHC) has been playing a vital role in making the horticulture and homestead gardening sustainable as well as profitable in the region, reports BSS. Through its various development activities, the RCHC being run by the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has become popular among the growers over the last couple of years. Established on 2.8 acres of land in 1968, the centre is now implementing a three-year “Integrated Qualitative Horticulture Development Project (IQHDP)” with a view to popularising fruit farming at the farmers-level. Horticulture Specialist Yeasin Ali told BSS that Rajshahi had been regarded as the country’s most prospective fruit and vegetable-producing region.  “Production of fruit and vegetables is one of the major income-generating activities in the region,” he said.
He also said that people are becoming increasingly interested in horticulture, planning various fruit saplings and growing vegetables around their homesteads or nearby open spaces. This trend has created huge demand for saplings of fruit bearing and other trees as well as vegetable seeds in the area, he added. In addition to infrastructure development like erecting barbed wire fence and preparing nursery sheds, the IQHDP during the last three years procured
various modern equipment necessary for rearing up saplings.
It also distributed 22,856 grafts and saplings of fruit, wood, herbal, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants side by side with providing training to 660 farmers, both male and female, and 210 field level agricultural officers.
Besides, 1,200 farmers were motivated for setting up jujube, mango, guava and litchi garden.
As many as 3,500 high-yielding jujube graft- saplings and 2,500 Thai guava saplings were distributed among the farmers.
Under the project, germplasm garden of different tested varieties of mango, litchi, jujube and other fruits was established on its own farm while another 2,500 farmers were given necessary suggestions on pest management of horticulture- based crops and 30 others on establishing nursery.
To motivate the farmers, 31 projection plots of different varieties of high-value crops like spices and winter-vegetables were set up on the growers’ land under the project, which is also providing the interested farmers with saplings, grafting, fertiliser, pesticides and necessary training. Official sources said the RCHC might turn into a potential centre for supplying high-yielding saplings of fruit, wood, vegetable and flowers, if the existing problems of the centre could be addressed.