Bandipora, Sep 2: A two-day capacity building training programme under the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP) was inaugurated Tuesday at Sumbal, Bandipora by Hilal Akbar Lone, Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Sonawari constituency.
As per a statement issued here, the programme, organized by the Dryland Agriculture Research Station Rangreth (DARS), SKUAST-Kashmir, is being conducted under HADP Project No. 15 titled ‘Rainfed Area Development,’ with a thematic focus on ‘Integrated Farming System Modules under Diverse Ecologies of Kashmir Himalayas.’ In his address, MLA Lone commended SKUAST-K and the Agriculture department for their efforts in promoting sustainable and climate-resilient farming practices in rainfed regions. He stressed the need for empowering field-level officers with advanced technical knowledge to support farmers in adopting integrated and eco-friendly agricultural systems.
Dr. M. Ashraf Bhat, Associate Director Research, DARS, Rangreth in his address highlighted the need of such training programmes and emphasized on the relevance of SKUAST-K technologies and their role in catering climate-oriented challenges. The event witnessed enthusiastic participation of farmers, officers from the Agriculture department including Agriculture Extension Officers, Assistant Agriculture Officers, Junior Agriculture Extension Officers, Junior Agriculture Officers and other concerned officers. A series of lectures were delivered by experts from SKUAST-Kashmir covering a range of topics designed to strengthen the participants’ understanding and implementation of integrated farming systems suitable for the diverse agro-ecological conditions of the Kashmir Himalayas. During the programme, a number of publications on millets titled, ‘An introduction to millets’ and ‘millet farming, processing and value addition-an introduction’ besides training pamphlet was released.
