ICAR- Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow organized a Farmer-Scientist meeting on the topic ‘Maintaining soil health for sustainable fruit production’ under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav on 26 th August, 2022. On this occasion, Dr. N. P. Singh, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda, Uttar Pradesh was the Chief Guest. Dr. Singh emphasized on the role of better soil health, balanced fertilizer use, and integrated nutrient management for the higher production of fruits and other horticultural crops while addressing the farmers and CISH staff. He exhorted the farmers to get their soils tested and use the manures and fertilizers based on Soil Health Card report. He observed that judicious nutrient management not only enhances the fruit yield and quality but also reduces the cost of production to a considerable extent while also minimizing the environmental pollution due to overuse of chemical fertilizers. Earlier, Dr. (Mrs.) Neelima Garg, Director, ICAR- CISH welcomed the Chief Guest and the farmers, and presented an overview of the activities being carried out under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav at ICAR-CISH, Lucknow. On this occasion, some expert lectures were also presented for enhancing the knowledge and skill of the farmers. Dr. P. L. Saroj discussed about the prospects of commercial fruit cultivation in degraded lands. Dr. S. K. Shukla informed the gathering about improved cultivars and production technologies for sustainable mango cultivation. Dr. Dinesh Kumar discussed the role of integrated and precision nutrient management in augmenting the fruits yields and farmers’ incomes. Dr. P. K. Shukla delivered a talk on integrated insect-pest and disease management in mango. On this occasion, an Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between ICAR- CISH, Lucknow and BUA&T, Banda for strengthening the research collaboration in subtropical fruit crops. This program was attended by about 120 participants including about 80 SCSP beneficiary farmers who were also provided with grafted plants of Arunika mango variety for planting in their kitchen gardens. The program was coordinated by Dr. Karma Beer, Dr. Anshuman Singh and Dr. Vishambhar Dayal.