15K carnation saplings given to farmers in Ooty

Udhagamandalam: In a bid to supply carnation flower saplings at subsidized rate, around 15,000 carnation flower saplings were distributed to farmers by the horticulture department in Ooty, on Thursday, under the National Agriculture Development Programme (NADP) scheme.
The department had imported 5,000 carnation plants, of different colours, from Italy two months ago and is in the process of developing and distributing about 3 lakh of the saplings to farmers under the NADP scheme.
Earlier, Nilgiris farmers had requested the horticulture department to provide them with good quality carnation flower saplings. Hence, the state government, with the assistance of NADP, sanctioned 1.4 crore to develop and distribute the saplings.
"We are selling the plants for 6 a piece, whereas private distributors sell them at 10 a piece," said Mani. tnn