STATE TIMES NEWS
DODA: Agricultural Officers Training and Visit Workshop was organised by SKUAST-J in the Office of the Chief Horticulture Officer Doda, wherein the resource persons and field functionaries of Departments of Agriculture and Horticulture of Doda District, participated. Dr. Mahital Jamwal, Senior Scientist and Head of the Regional Horticultural Research Station Bhadarwah and the Coordinator of the workshop briefed the participants about the practices to be adopted in agricultural and horticultural farms of the region during the current period. He suggested protection of fruit plants against frost, timely training and pruning of fruit trees and proper planning for establishment of new orchards and fruit plant nurseries to increase the area under horticultural crops in the region.
Dr. Ravneet Kour discussed about different cultural practices required during the current period for vegetables and floricultural crops. Dr. Neeraj Kotwal discussed cultural practices required for button mushrooms and apiculture in the region during the current period. He suggested several weed management and other plant protection techniques for agricultural and horticultural crops. Dr. Manoj Sharma emphasised for application of recommended doses of organic and inorganic fertilisers for the crops and stressed for creating awareness among farmers for the importance of soil testing and proper fertilisation for maintaining good soil health and optimum crop production.
Chief Horticulture Officer Doda, Madan Lal Tak highlighted the problems being faced by the farmers due to lack of irrigation facilities in the region and discussed about the possibilities of water harvesting in the region and techniques to increase the germination rate of seeds in the nurseries.
He appreciated the role of SKUAST-J and its scientists to update the field functionaries on regular basis to help the farmer community of the region. Horticulture Development Officers, Rahat Bashir, Abid Hussain, Mohinder Singh and Daljeet Singh were among the participants who discussed different issues of farmers during the workshop.
