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OFFICE/ESTT. OF THE DISTRICT HORTICULTURE OFFICER, TAWANG

             The HQ. Office of the department of Horticulture is located at Tawang, with head of the office/estt. As the District Horticulture Officer.

             Tawang district, which consists of hills, slopes, meadows and valleys with elevations ranging from 1,067 M to 6860 M (3,500 – 22,500 ft.). Conditions like, sub-tropical in the southernmost regions bordering Bhutan, temperate climate in major part of the district and alpine conditions in the northernmost regions bordering China, provide varied climatic conditons conducive for horticulture activities.

The organizational structure of the office of the District Horticulture Officer, Tawang

Functions of the department

• To improve economic status of rural population through horticultural activities.
• To provide assistance in terms of inputs and extension service to the farmers.
• To encourage people for self-employment through horticultural activities.
• To increase horticultural produce to help increase consumption of fruit & vegetables amongst rural population.
• To conserve environment through plantation of fruit trees.

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Schemes under taken by the department

Peoples Horticulture Garden/Area Expansion Programme

Under this scheme, the beneficiaries are provided with assistance viz; quality-planting materials, fencing materials, fertilizers and technical know-how etc. to open orchards. The fruit crops, which are covered under these schemes, are – Apple, Walnut, Kiwi, Orange.

Green House/Low Cost Tunnel

Under this scheme, beneficiaries are provided, as per sanction, U.V. Film with complete structure, while in other cases, U.V. films are provided, with beneficiaries themselves have to arrange structure materials like timber, bamboo, wires, nails etc. materials, however, construction charges are provided by the department. This scheme is very supportive in growing off-season vegetable and particularly peoples who are interested in floriculture.

Cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants

The department had been providing assistance for cultivation of local medicinal plants keeping in view of some of the medicinal plants available in the district, which are at the verge of extinction due to indiscriminate herding, haphazard harvesting and lack of action for protection of these plants. And also improving economic status of poor farmers.

Besides this, farmers are encouraged to grow aromatic plants and in doing so, the department have distributed aromatic plant (Geranium) to the beneficiaries with an extraction unit provided by the Govt. to the Kharsaneng area of the district.

Govt. Horticultural Trial-cum- Demonstration Garden

The Govt. Horticultural-trial-cum-demonstration Garden at Namtsering village, 20 km. away from Lumla Hqrs., was established long back. The garden was established with a view to conduct trial-cum-demonstration on different vegetables and fruit crops following upto-date scientific cultivation practices. The garden has been producing quality fruits like; Orange, Guava etc. and vegetables as well earning handsome revenue to the Govt.

Training and education

The department has been imparting training to the farmers with the view to acquaint them with the latest method of cultivation practices by taking them on training tour, inside and outside the state.

Horticulture Technology Mission

This is a special package programme for the development of Horticulture in the North-east region including Sikkim. Under this programme, various beneficiary oriented developmental schemes are undertaken from the year 2001-02 onwards such as establishing of Apple, Walnut, Orange, Kiwi gardens etc. and as well as medicinal & aromatic plant cultivation too.

Although, various fruit crops are grown successfully in the district, but till now, Apple and Kiwi has emerged as the major fruit crop of the district.

1. Apple (Malus pumila) – Area under this crop has risen to 419.50 hectares in the district with an estimated production of 44.5 MT and is expected to increase further, since maximum number of plants are in gestation period.
2. Kiwi (Actinidia deliciosa) – Area under this crop has risen to 7.9 hectares in the district. This fruit crop after 2 or 3 years will fetch the farmers’ substantial income.

The total area, production & productivity of other fruit crops in the district are appended below:

Sl.No.	Name of the crops	Area (Ha.)	Estimated production (MT.)	Estimated productivity (MT/Ha.)	Remarks
1	Walnut	314.60	18.0	0.06	01. Low productivity in some crops is due to sudden increase in area of young plants under various schemes during last 3(Three) years.
2	Orange	37.50	30.0	0.08
3	Plum	7.30	26.0	3.56
4	Peach	4.00	25.0	6.25
5	Pear	113.00	2.0	0.02
6	Pomegranate	150.25	0.5	0.003
7	Guava	1.00	2.00	2.00
8	Papaya	0.05	0.02	0.40
9	Banana	7.50	6.0	0.80
10	Other fruits	67.60	10.0	0.15
11	Ginger	20.0	37.5	1.88
12	Vegetables	46.0	120.0	2.09

             The establishment expenditure i.e. Staff Salaries, Wages, DTE, OE, MT, OTA, OC, Minor works under PLAN Account comes on an average of 10,95,000.00 yearly and under NON-PLAN Account – Rs. 16,72,000 .

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