Bhaderwah: Over 100 farmers associated with cultivation of commercial flowers on Tuesday participated in a workshop organised by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM) here in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
The interactive workshop on ‘challenges, interventions and opportunities’ for the farmers under CSIR Floriculture Mission was primarily aimed at informing the farmers about the capacity building, value addition and post-harvest management of high-value floricultural crops, they said.
“Bhaderwah has immense potential in floriculture, especially cut flowers and aromatic plants and owing to the high demand of cut and loose flowers, the mission with its various strategically devised verticals offers a unique opportunity in enhancing the economy of the Union Territory, especially areas like Bhaderwah,” nodal scientist of CSIR floriculture mission Shahid Rasool said.
He said the verticals of the mission include the development of new floral varieties, expansion of areas under region-specific floricultural crops, integration of apiculture and floriculture and establishing effective domestic and international market linkage.
Lauding the CSIR-IIIM for organising the workshop, Deputy Commissioner, Doda, Vishesh Paul Mahajan sought the cooperation of the farmers to make Bhaderwah a shining success story in the field of floriculture.
“We have already proved ourselves by successfully cultivating aromatic plants and this Valley in a short span of time has emerged as the capital of lavender in the country,” he said.
“I hope CSIR will continue to motivate and impart training to the farmers in the length and breadth of the district so that we can encourage farmers to shift from their normal cropping patterns and increase their income in a big way.”
Participating farmers expressed their gratitude to CSIR-IIIM for organising the workshop and said such an initiative will surely help open new avenues for them to increase their income by adopting value addition to their crops.
In Bhaderwah alone, over 1,000 farmers have been growing marigold by shifting from traditional maize cultivation and thereby meeting the demand of the flowers in temples of Jammu, Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Reasi and the neighboring Punjab during summer months (May to September) when supply of Marigold dries up from the plains of Jammu and Punjab due to harsh weather.
