STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: One day Capacity Building/Training Program on Holistic Agriculture Development Program (HADP) was organised by the Department Horticulture Jammu here on Thursday.
Director Horticulture Jammu Chaman Lal Sharma chaired the event attended by Chief Horticulture Officer Ashwani Sharma, District Level- Subject Matter Specialist Pomology Sandeep Gupta, Horticulture Development Officers, besides Staff Members and Field functionaries from all the Blocks of Jammu District participated in the Training Program.
The Director Horticulture impressed upon the field functionaries to put in extra efforts to take the benefits of all the Departmental schemes to maximum number of farmers at the ground level. He discussed ways and means that the department could adopt for the betterment of the farmers and removing the bottlenecks in the implementation of departmental schemes.
Stressing the need to promote Horticulture Profession, he said there was an immediate need to shift from Traditional Horticulture to Smart Horticulture by adopting the latest innovations like Modified High Density Plantation, Strawberry cultivation, Micro-irrigation technologies, Protected Cultivation techniques, Organic farming and Mechanization. The Director instructed the officers to organize awareness camps, Kissan Goshtis, etc. to ensure effective implementation of departmental schemes for the ultimate benefit of the fruit growers. With its multifaceted approach encompassing technological interventions, crop diversification, market linkages and farmer capacity building, the plan underscores a paradigm shift towards modernized and resilient agricultural practices.
Earlier, the Chief Horticulture Officer Jammu Ashwani Sharma briefed the chair about the status of different ongoing Horticulture developmental schemes for the upliftment of the farming community.
Several queries were raised by the HDOs and other field functionaries regarding the better implementation of HADP in the field. The chair addressed all the queries of the field functionaries very effectively on the spot. DLSMS Sandeep Gupta carried out the proceedings of the programme.