STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Agriculture Department on Thursday conducted E Plant Clinics across Jammu Division to commemorate Kisan Diwas.
On the instructions of Joint Director Agriculture (Extension), B. K. Chandan, who is also Project coordinator, Plant wise programme, a team comprising of Programme Leader, CABI, South Asia Dr Vinod Pandit and Incharge Plant Health Clinic Jammu, Arun Khajuria on visited Udhampur district under Monitoring and Evolution (M&E) component of Plant wise programme to assess the working of E Plant clinics.
The programme was organized to observe the Farmers Day (Kisan Diwas) which is celebrated every year on 23rd December nationwide to honour the farmers.
Special Plant Clinics were organized at three different locations in Udhampur district where visiting team also interacted with the farmers.
Plant Doctors, Darshan Sharma, Vikal Gupta, Ankur Sharma, Harjeet Singh were also present besides other.
Incharge Plant Health Clinic Jammu, Arun Khajuria on the occasion advised the plant doctors to always be vigilant against Invasive Pests/ Diseases which is cause of concern at present. He asked the plant doctors to follow the IPM module and “Process of Elimination” while making recommendations to the farmers.
Programme Leader, CABI, South Asia Dr Vinod Pandit asked the plant doctors to take full advantage of Plant wise knowledge bank to update their Knowhow regarding diagnosis and recommendations and assured them of full support from CABI. He also suggested some technical measures to improve the functioning of the Pant Clinics.
Awareness was also imparted to the farmers regarding various schemes and farmer welfare programmes being implemented by Department of Agriculture.
A message from Joint Directors Agriculture (Extension) was also shared with the farmers on the occasion in which he reiterated departments’ resolve to provide free diagnosis and recommendations to the farming community to lessen the crop loss incurred by pests and diseases.
The e-Plant clinics were also organized at Sub Division level in five districts of Jammu Division (Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri and Udhampur) on the occasion of Kisan Diwas where live plant samples are diagnosed and results were communicated to the farmers .