A farmers awareness cum training camp for rainy season plantation was held today at Budhi of Kathua district under the chairmanship of Director Horticulture, Jammu, Ram Savak.

More than 150 farmers including Sarpanch of Budhi North, Neelam Devi, Sarpanch of Budhi South, Om Parkash, besides other PRI members including women participated.

  Addressing the gathering, the Director Horticulture Jammu briefed the farmers about different centrally/UT sponsored schemes of the department and urged them to come forward, associate with the Horticulture department and avail the benefits  of plantation besides other components viz: Bore Well, water harvesting tanks, Drip irrigation, Custom Hiring Centres, vermicompost units, protected cultivation,  tools & implements etc. for uplift of their socio- economic status. He also laid emphasis on the plantation of Citrus and Aloevera which has great potential in the district.  He informed that an extraction plant was also going to be established in the district for the processing of Aloevera.

To meet the vision of Atam Nirbar Bharat,  he urged the youth to avail the benefit of the Nursery Development Scheme  to become self-reliant by  producing  quality planting material. He further said that the district was having a great potential for horticulture crops which must be tapped. He appealed to the PRI and field functionaries to work in tandem for doubling the farmers’ income with special focus on area expansion, installation of solar Dryers and processing units.

 Earlier, the Chief Horticulture Officer, Kathua, Sushil Angurana welcomed the Director Horticulture and impressed upon farmers to avail the benefits of different farmer friendly schemes of the department to enhance their income.

Later, the Director Horticulture distributed fruit plants among the participants in presence of Chief Horticulture Officer, Kathua, District Officers/HDOs and sarpanches of the area.