JAMMU: The Department of Horticulture Jammu is conducting a series of plantation drives in the Sub-tropical areas of Jammu Division to promote plantation of fruit plants in the farmers’ fields amid the Rainy season.
In this context, the Director Horticulture Jammu, Ram Savak, today started the plantation drive at three different farmers’ fields located at Bajalta, Chak-Rakhwala and Ban area of Dansal block. By planting saplings, the director initiated the compact plantation over an area of 50 kanals. Chief Horticulture Officer Jammu, Ashwani Sharma, DLSMS Jammu, Sandeep Gupta, Horticulture Development Officer, Sandeep Sharma and a large number of farmers of the area were present.
During the programme, the Director stressed the need to encourage High Density Plantation in the area. He said that the rainy season is very suitable for new plantations especially in the kandi area and the farmers should adopt a cluster approach to establish new orchards and take benefit of all the departmental schemes.
Awareness cum interaction programme was also conducted at Ban, where a large gathering of farmers including women and Sarpanch of the panchayat Ban, Rajinder Singh were present.
During the interaction with the farmers, the Director briefed them about the recently launched Holistic Agriculture Development Programme providing incentives / assistance to the farming community to enhance their income. He discussed in detail the scope of HADP and sensitized the gathering about the main components of the programme viz: DAKSH- Learning Management System related to skill development, SATHI- Dashboard to apply online for different Government schemes, etc.
The Director urged the farmers to come forward, associate with the horticulture department and avail the benefits of protected cultivation, Water harvesting tanks, Drip irrigation, Custom Hiring Centres, Vermicompost units, Strawberry plantation, Tools / implements etc. for upliftment of their socio- economic status.