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News Desk. The government has taken a big step to promote dragon fruit cultivation in Uttar Pradesh. The state's first and the country's second Center of Excellence for Dragon Fruit will be established in Deori in Mirzapur district. The government has approved the proposal of the Horticulture Department. An amount of about Rs 5 crore has been released for the start of the project.

This center will not be just a training ground for farmers, but will be developed as an important center to promote modern cultivation, plant preparation, research and techniques of better production of dragon fruit. The country's first Center of Excellence for Dragon Fruit has been established in Bengaluru. Now the center to be built in Mirzapur will be the second major such facility in the country.

The center will be built at a cost of Rs 15 crore

The proposed center will be developed on about 40 bighas of land. The entire project is estimated to cost around Rs 15 crore. Here, with the use of modern agricultural technology, work will be done on different aspects to dragon fruit cultivation.

Farmers will get certified plants

The biggest feature of this center will be to provide better quality saplings to the farmers. Farmers will be able to get certified and disease free dragon fruit plants. This can help in reducing losses caused by poor quality plants and improve the quality of production.

Mirzapur is becoming hub of dragon fruit

Dragon fruit cultivation is already expanding in Mirzapur. In such a situation, the establishment of the Center of Excellence is expected to give further impetus to the cultivation of this crop in the district. According to officials, there will be special emphasis on providing technical assistance and quality saplings to the farmers through the centre.