Min visits Cinchona plantations, announces orange festival to be held on Dec 14 & 15
Darjeeling: Arup Roy, minister of Horticulture and Food Processing, on a visit to the cinchona plantations in the Darjeeling Hills announced that the annual Orange Festival will be held on December 14 and 15 in Mungpoo. Along with this, an international workshop on Darjeeling Mandarin Orange (Citrus reticulate Blanco) will be held in February 2025, a s part of ‘Mission Suntala.’ The ongoing mission is to salvage the world famous Darjeeling orange (Suntala in Nepali) that was a major cash crop of the hills but has witnessed a steady decline over the years owing to disease and pest infestation.
“Darjeeling oranges are world famous. Mandarins are grown in many countries but nothing beats the taste of Darjeeling oranges. We can not allow it to die. The Bengal government is committed to revival of this treasure of the Hills. The department has embarked on an ambitious project on a mission mode called the ‘Mission Suntala’ with the aim of rejuvenating the existing orchards and addressing various problems being faced by the orange growers. Commendable work has been done. I have seen the progress,” stated the minister.
On Sunday, the minister visited the cinchona plantation area of Munsong where he visited and inaugurated the Munsong Tropical Orchid Centre. He also inaugurated free mobile distribution centres of planting material for cardamom and ginger under the MIDS scheme.
The minister inaugurated a footbridge over the Rambi Khola in the Mungpoo Cinchona plantation area on Saturday. He also visited the Cymbidium Orchid House, Guras (Rhododendron) Park and the Rambi Khola area. The event was attended by GTA Cinchona department members, Cinchona Director Samuel Rai and other officials from the Cinchona Plantation. The minister visited the Latpanchar Cinchona Plantation on November 22.
“I have visited the polyhouses, project area and also the tissue culture laboratory. A lot of work has been done and progress has been made in the direction of revival of Darjeeling oranges,” stated Roy.
The Mandarin Orange is a major cash crop of the Darjeeling Hills. It is grown in approximately 930 hectares in the Darjeeling Hills. “Revival of Darjeeling oranges will take time but there is steady progress. Technology adoption rate is slow but farmers are responding. Research work including identifying pests and their control is on. 1069 elite orange plants have been identified and have been Geotagged. They have been identified from the farmers’ fields and also in the cinchona plantations. These plants are healthy, strong, disease free, with good yield, producing good quality oranges and can be used as mother plants in case plants are required for large scale re-plantation. They can be used for grafting, budding and even for tissue culture,” stated Samuel Rai, Director, Cinchona Plantations.
