College of Horticulture, Bharsar

College of Horticulture Bharsar is situated in the main campus of V.C.S.G Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Bharsar, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India. The scenic natural beauty of Garhwal region is world famous. This region of Garhwal is aptly named as Bharsar, which in local Garhwali dialect means fulfilled with abundant natural wealth. It covers an approximate area of 175 hectares consisting of 104 hectares of forest and 71 hectares of horticultural area. The altitude of Bharsar varies from 1800-2300 meters above mean sea level. Bharsar is located 57 km away from Pauri, the headquarter of district Pauri Garhwal on National Highway No. 121.

The climatic conditions of Bharsar are fairly cool over the years except harsh winter during the month of December, January and February, which is considered ideal for the production of quality temperate fruit and tree nut crops such as apple, pear, peach, plum, apricot, kiwi, walnut, chestnut, hazelnut etc. The area receives adequate snow during last week of December to mid February followed by heavy precipitation during monsoon. There are ample sunshine hours and the growing period is long. Soils are basically sandy loam with a deep profile of 2-3 meter. Soil pH range from 5.0-7.5 on the agricultural lands and is less than 6.0 in forest area. There are enough natural water resources to fulfil the domestic and all agricultural irrigation requirements.

HISTORY:-

Bharsar was founded by an English man McMilan, who settled in the area around 1924. Subsequently, orchards of apple, pear, peach, plum, walnut etc were established in the area. In 1951, Mr. McMilan sold the area to the Department of Horticulture, Government of Uttar Pradesh from 1951 till the date of establishment of the college (June12, 2001). It remained under the control of Department of Horticlture, Uttar Pradesh on account of potential development activities that can be carried out here for the nearby hill region by horticulture, The government of Uttarakhand handed over the orchard to G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar for the establishment of College of Horticulture.
The College of Horticulture was established and inaugurated by Ex-Chief Minister, Government of Uttaranchal on June 12, 2001 and formerly handed over to G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar on the occasion of Secound State foundation day of Uttaranchal i.e November 9, 2002 in 2011 with the establishment of V.C.S.G Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, headquater at Bharsar, the College of Horticulture,Bharsar along with the College of Forestry, Ranichauri were handed over to University.

MANDATES OF THE COLLEGE:

• Human Resource Development in the area of Horticulture.
• Technology development for improving horticulture production and post harvest management including processing and value addition.
• Germplasm management.
• Capacity building for entrepreneurship/self employment.
• Dissemination of technologies for the benefit of farmers/ orchadists.

VISION :

The Frontier areas of academics and R&D of the college include:-

• Human Resource Development in the area of horticulture & agriculture.
• Development of technologies for the improvement in Horticulture.
• Capacity building for entrepreneurship/ self employment.
• Dissemination of the technologies for the benefit of the region.

Production of genuine and quality planting material of different temperate horticulture crops along with important medicinal and aromatic plants.