JAMMU: Director Horticulture Jammu C. L Sharma flagged off an Exposure visit of Women Farmers to encourage them to avail the promising returns of Horticulture farming. Exposure visits are organised to enable farmers living in one place to exchange and share good farming practices with their counterparts at another location.
The Director Horticulture, while interacting with the women farmers, briefed them about different schemes of the department. He asked them to form Self Help Groups (SHG’s) and assured that the department will assist them in setting up Micro Food Processing units for value addition of fruit and vegetable products, on subsidized cost. “Such ventures will help them to become self-reliant and play an important role in enhancing the family income” he added.
The Director said that the department has the provision of imparting training to the interested persons at their door steps in the art of processing of fruits and vegetables to convert it into value added products such as Jam, Pickle, Preserve, Candy, Sauces, Squash, Jelly's etc. Further, he said that the department will facilitate the women entrepreneurs in selling their products in the departmental facilitation centres and cooperative stores.
During the interaction, women farmers raised several queries, which were satisfactorily addressed by the Director Horticulture. The Exposure visit of more than 70 women farmers was flagged of by the Director Horticulture in presence of Joint Director Vikas Anand, Chief Horticulture Officer Rakesh Kotwal, DLSMS Jammu Sandeep Gupta and other officers of the department During the exposure visit, women farmers visited Strawberry plantation farms, Protected Cultivation Structures, Micro- Food Processing Units, Geo-Tanks etc at Gazian and Morchapur.
