Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 7: Vice Chancellor (VC) of Jammu University, Prof. Umesh Rai held an interaction with Aijaz Amhed, a progressive farmer from Balia village of Mandi in Poonch and a team of researchers from the School of Biotechnology led by Prof. Jyoti Vakhlu, who has taken the initiative to spread Saffron cultivation to non-traditional cultivating areas.
Prof. Rai said that scientific temper and progressive attitude of Aijaz Ahmed has led to the success of the current study.
He was of the opinion that a major research project in this regard should be submitted to various funding agencies so that this pilot scale study, is extended to saffron production at the large scale in a harmonious exchange of two-way knowledge between the ‘Lab to Land and Land to Lab’ programme.
The VC was of the opinion that as the present study has been conducted using organic fertilizers only there may be a case for standardizing the process and pitching it as organic saffron, produced without any fertilizer.
He further suggested that it makes sense to adapt new technology that is not prohibitively costly, like hand tillers, that will free up more opportunities for the small farmers.
Prof. Rai suggested that University of Jammu should play an important role in its quality assurance and marketing and that this project should be taken up in a trans-disciplinary mode wherein faculty from Management and Social Sciences etc should be included for benefit of students and society at large.
The farmers in Mandi Tehsil mainly cultivate maize which is high volume low value crop and the introduction of saffron in the area which is a low-volume high-value crop is going to increase farmers’ income.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
