“Field day: Solanaceous Vegetables” was organized by Zonal Technology Management Unit of ICAR-IIVR, Varanasi on 19th January, 2019 to showcase and commercialize the promising varieties and advanced lines of tomato, brinjal and chilli developed by the Institute. The programme was attended by more than 30 breeders and marketing strategists from ten private vegetable seed-companies like Gemini seeds Pvt. Ltd., Known-you Seeds, Ankur Seeds Pvt. Ltd., Agriisia Seeds Pvt. Ltd., Metahelix Life Sciences Ltd., Nuziveedu seeds, East-West Seeds, Sakata Seeds and Tanishk Agro Inputs. The representatives of seed-companies visited the research farm of the Institute and appreciated the varieties, hybrids and other advanced breeding lines developed by the Institute. The representatives critically observed the promising materials and expressed their desire to get some of the promising hybrids/varieties and advanced breeding lines having a combination of desired quality traits along with yield. The delegates thoroughly interacted with the breeders of the institute and provided valuable feedback on the current market needs in various vegetables.
The Director, Dr. B. Singh expressed his keen desire for an effective collaboration with the private sector in PPP mode to extend the technologies of the Institute to farmers’ field within the ambit of ICAR guidelines. The Director also assured the delegates to develop new technologies in accordance with the current market and consumer preference and inputs provided by the representatives. At the end, Dr. P.M. Singh, Principal Scientist and In-charge ZTMU proposed the vote of thanks.