Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Feb. 20
By Demir Azizov - Trend:
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) handed over the state-of-the-art INVITRO laboratory to Uzbekistan.
INVITRO is the country's first laboratory for cultivation of stone and pome fruits, the US Embassy in Tashkent said Feb. 20 in a message.
The laboratory, which sports the most modern equipment, was handed over to Uzbekistan as part of the USAID project titled "The development of relations in agriculture".
The project was realized in partnership with the Agriculture and Water Resources Ministry of Uzbekistan at the Horticulture and Viticulture Research Institute named after Academician Mahmud Mirzayev.
The laboratory will make it possible to get every week up to 5,000 seedlings of pome and stone fruit trees resistant to viruses and saline soil.
Unlike the conventional greenhouses, which are effective only at certain times of the year, this laboratory will allow growing seedlings throughout the year.
The equipment purchased under the project is worth about $300,000.
The annual income of the Horticulture and Viticulture Research Institute from the laboratory's operation is expected to be no less than $100,000 (through the sale of the grown seedlings).
It is planned that the best seedlings will be sold to farmers in Uzbekistan at preferential prices.
The ceremony for handing over the laboratory was attended by the representatives of the Uzbek government and private greenhouses, as well as the students of the Tashkent State Agrarian University.
The opening remarks at the ceremony were made by the US Ambassador to Uzbekistan Pamela Spratlen, who viewed the laboratory along with the representatives of the Uzbek government.