BHUBANESWAR: A two-day seminar on urban horticulture was jointly organised by Rotary Club of Bhubaneswar, Plant Lovers’ Association and Central Horticultural Experiment Station (CHES), ICAR-IIHR on the premises of CHES, Aiginia, in Bhubaneswar here recently.
Eminent scientists from ICAR-IIHR, Bangalore, experts on rooftop gardening from Mumbai and New Delhi and practitioners of urban garden from Bhubaneswar shared their knowledge on the subject on both the days.
Addressing the gathering, experts encouraged the participants to go for roof top gardening, as it acts as air purifier, stress buster and controlling the temperature of the house, apart from offering outdoor space for children and old persons.
Manmath Pani talked about about the schemes of the state Govt. for urban Horticulture. Chairman of the organising committee R K Das, spoke about the need of the hour to develop gardens, particularly rooftop garden, green roof, soil less agriculture to fight against dangers arising out of climate change and rising temperature.
H S Upadhyay, PCCF, Wildlife, graced the occasion as chief guest and spoke about the deforestation leading to the wild animals intruding into urban areas. He cited the incidents elephant, leopard accessing human settlements causing loss of life and property. He urged upon the participants in the programme to develop gardens in and around houses and office premises to compensate the loss of greenery.