Principal Secretary, Agriculture Production and Farmers Welfare, Navin Kumar Choudhary, today announced a grant of Rs 1 crore for undertaking lavender cultivation in twin districts of Doda and Kishtwar.He fixed a target for officers of the department to cultivate about 10000 kanal of land under cultivation of this cash crop. Principal Secretary was speaking virtually to participants of the workshop organized on the scope of “Lavender Cultivation its Viability and Entrepreneurship” in Doda and Kishtwar by J&K Advisory Board for Development of Kisans in collaboration with Department of Agriculture and Floriculture.Navin asked the officers to divert their focus from traditional crops like rice, wheat and maize to cash crops like lavender, turmeric and medicinal plants. He said that these crops have great potential in terms of increasing returns for the growers.He asked the farmers to optimally utilize the knowledge gained in this workshop to take a great leap in turning their fortunes. He assured them that the administration would extend every support to enhance their knowledge in the field of agriculture for increasing their production manifold. He asked them to take benefit of various government schemes like PARVAZ to increase their income. He asked the scientists of SKUAST and IIIM to dedicate a team for assistance of farmers in these far flung districts. He asked them to provide them every sort of handholding for having a bumper crop at the end of the season. He also directed the Agriculture Department to organize these cultivators into an FPO and provide them the refrigerated van on full time basis for transportation of this crop to Jammu and Srinagar. He asked the Director Agriculture, Jammu, to devise a plan for stationing a senior Agricultural officer at the Bhaderwah for the benefit of growers.On the occasion, the growers also took up their issues with the Principal Secretary and urged upon him to intervene for successful branding and marketing of their produce. They also demanded a large industrial unit and a laboratory for value addition of the crop in their area. Principal Secretary exhorted upon the officers to look into all the requirements necessary for making this crop a viable entrepreneurship activity in the area. He asked them to make arrangements for the farmers as per their demand by utilizing the above amount provided by the department for taking cultivation of this crop to the next level.The workshop was attended by Secretary, Kisan Board; Directors of Agriculture and Floriculture, Jammu, scientists from Indian Institute of Integrated Medicines (IIIM) and SKUAST and experts from Palampur (HP) along with growers from these 2 districts of the UT.
