BANGALORE: The newly-established Horticulture Research and Extension Centre in the city will soon have a research centre for fruits and vegetables.
The extension centre forms part of the University of Horticultural Sciences (UHS), Bagalkot, which has decided to establish the research unit following a long-standing demand.
The Centre of Excellence for Food and Health will come up at a cost of `10 crore with the state government, UHS and Texas Agricultural and Management University (TAMU) as stake-holders.
The state government will give the `10 crore over a period of three years. In the first year, the centre will get `3 crore, of which `1.2 crore was received last week.
Speaking to Express, UHS special officer (planning) Dr Ashok Halur said, “The facility will conduct research pertaining to fruits and vegetables, post-harvest processing and manufacture of different fruit or vegetable-based products. We will also have faculty exchange programmes with TAMU so that scientists benefit.”
The centre will also collaborate with organisations from the health sector to conduct research.
“It is only recently that people have started to become health conscious and are including fruits in their diet. The research that we conduct will have an impact on the public,” he added.
Considering that the Horticulture Research and Extension Centre has been set up recently, no new structure will be built for the new research centre. Of the `3 crore that will be given this year, `70 lakh has already been set aside to develop the existing facilities, which mainly involve civil works.
“There are a few institutes that have researched the relation between horticulture and food. Students did not have advanced facilities and laboratories to conduct research on fruits and vegetables. We believe that this new centre shall fill the gap,” said Halur.