Jorhat, Sept. 26: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched two high-yielding varieties of lemongrass and citronella produced by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-North East Institute of Science and Technology here, at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, on the occasion of the platinum jubilee year of the council, of which the institute is a constituent lab.

After the ceremony, Modi interacted with a few farmers at the Kisan Mela organised by the institute here, the entire programme being beamed live on television.

In his interaction with Biswanath Pandit, a farmer, Modi asked if Assam could not scientifically produce a new brand of tea as people nowadays sought something new in everything. The farmer, who had done his BSc in botany, said a lot of tea in Assam was being organically produced and was fetching a good price abroad.

Farmer Akshay Sharma was asked if the citronella and lemongrass had a good market and Sharma replied that they got nearly Rs 600-Rs 700 for a litre of oil, which was much less than the price obtained outside the state, which was between Rs 1,200 and Rs 1,500.

Nearly 500 farmers who participated in the fair were given saplings of the two new varieties. The citronella variety was named Jor Lab C-5 and the lemongrass variety was named Jor Lab L-8.

K.M. Bujarbaruah, the vice-chancellor of Assam Agricultural University, who launched the varieties here, said one lab should be set up centrally for aromatic plants to analyse the medicinal and other properties of the oils.

"A lot of work has to be done and setting up a lab would go a long way," he said.

Mohan Lal, a breeder in the medicinal, aromatics and economic plants division, said the lemongrass produced 30 per cent more oil than the earlier variety, while the citronella variety produced 40 per cent more oil than the earlier one.

Siddhartha Saikia, scientist and group head of the division, said both the varieties had been registered with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi.

Pinaki Sengupta, a scientist at the institute, spoke of the different technologies and products in which lemon grass and citronella oil were used.

D. Ramaiah, the institute's director, told The Telegraph over phone from New Delhi that it was a proud moment for the institute.

"Our institute has done a lot of good work and these two varieties are part of the process," Ramaiah said.