Around 350 rural women in Prayagraj are expected to be trained to raise seedlings in courtyard nurseries using pro-trays, according to a Hindustan Times report published October 3, 2026. The report says the first 70 women have completed training; the wider figure is a planned reach, not a confirmed total of trainees already trained.
What the Prayagraj initiative involves
The horticulture department is reported to be implementing the initiative under the Integrated Horticulture Development Mission for women associated with self-help groups. Trainees are to learn to raise seedlings in home courtyard nurseries, and the report says training kits and pro-trays are provided free of cost. These details are reported by Hindustan Times; the available account does not cite an official project order or department notice.
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The first batch of 70 women reportedly completed training at the Horticultural Research and Training Centre in Khusro Bagh. The report does not establish when the remaining women will be trained or provide selection criteria or an implementation calendar.
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A pro-tray, or propagation tray, is a reusable polypropylene tray divided into separate cavities, with drainage holes and space for growing medium, according to the National Horticulture Board handbook. Each seedling grows in its own cell rather than sharing a nursery bed. The handbook says sterilized commercial growing media is preferable because seedling disease incidence is lower or nil; it does not identify the tray model or growing medium supplied in Prayagraj.
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Tray-based production matters because healthy seedlings are important to vegetable crop growth and performance, as ICAR material on seedling production notes. That general point does not establish the results of this particular training program.
What the report says about seed loss and germination
Training-centre in-charge V.K. Singh told Hindustan Times that direct sowing can lead to 30–40% seed loss or damage, while germination in pro-trays can exceed 90%. The report gives no crop, sample size, study design or independent trial data for those figures. They should therefore be read as Singh’s reported comparison, not as a universal performance guarantee for pro-trays.
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Singh also said traditional nurseries are vulnerable to soil-borne diseases including wilt, nematodes and root rot, and that separate tray cells help protect seedlings from pathogens and keep roots from becoming entangled. Those are attributed comments in the report, not independently measured outcomes from the Prayagraj initiative.
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The livelihood idea is for women to raise saplings close to home and sell them to local farmers, creating a possible additional source of income. Geeta Devi, a member of the Om Mahila self-help group from Balakaranpur village in Phulpur, described that opportunity to the newspaper. The report provides no sales, earnings or employment figures, so this remains an intended benefit rather than a demonstrated result.
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Grafting and the Saidabad centre
Deputy director (Horticulture) Kaushal Kumar Neeraj said the women will also be trained in grafting in a later phase. He said grafted vegetable seedlings can develop stronger root systems and offer improved resistance to certain diseases, potentially helping reduce crop losses. The account reports that a mini centre of excellence for nursery management, seedling production and grafting has been established in Saidabad, but seedlings there are currently raised conventionally and grafting has not yet been introduced.
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