New technology to boost production of Geranium

News:CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) has developed a new low-cost technology to produce Geranium saplings.

Facts:

About Geranium:

• Geranium plant is originally from South Africa and is predominantly used in manufacturing essential oils.
• It acts as an anti-inflammatory and antiseptic agent.It also has several medicinal values.
• In India, the plant is cultivated in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and North Eastern Regions.

About the new technology:

• This new technology has been developed under the Aroma Mission of CSIR.
• Currently,the geranium cultivation is being done in aerated glass houses. With the help of the new technology,geranium can be cultivated at farms just like every other crop. 
• Further,another problem of Geranium cultivation is the availability of saplings.The saplings become expensive as the crop gets ruined in the rainy season.With the new technology,the saplings can easily be obtained as they are being cultivated in open farms.

Additional information:

About Aroma mission:

• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR) had launched the Aroma mission to boost cultivation of aromatic crops and medicinal plants.
• Aromatic plants are a special kind of plants used for their aroma and flavour.Many of them are also used for medicinal purposes such as rosemary, lavender, lemongrass among others.
• The mission aims to develop superior aroma crop varieties and their agro-technologies. The mission also facilitates the assessment of their suitability for large scale cultivation in specific agro-climatic regions.