Excelsior Correspondent
DODA, June 5: On 2nd day of the Lavender Festival 2023, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicines (IIIM) Jammu organized a meeting of scientists, farmers and industrialists at Lal Dad Auditorium, University Campus, Bhaderwah, under CSIR -Aroma Mission Phase 3rd.
Director, Distance Education, University of Jammu, Prof Neelu Rohmetra, was the chief guest of the meeting organized by Zabeer Ahmad (Director CSIR-IIIM Jammu) while guest of honor was Prof (Dr) Ravi Jyee (Scientist).
Eminent stakeholders from different states like Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttrakhand, Rajasthan, Goa, Meghalaya and Assam including Sandeep Harlalka (Director, Nishant Aromas) from Mumbai, Bharat Bhushan and his team, local industrialists Gafar Bagwan and Touqir Ahmad Bagban participated in this meet. The objective of the meet was to bring together on one platform all stakeholders viz. scientists, famers and industry to understand and comprehend issues and challenges to be addressed in the Aroma Mission Phase 3.
Prof Neelu Rohmetra interacted with participating farmers from Bhaderwah, Doda, Uttrakhand, Meghalaya and Himachal who shared their experiences. She spoke on the need for appreciating competition in Lavender cultivation and benchmarking quality to compete in international markets. She emphasized on the use of technology to build a consortium for the ease of doing this business in aromatic products.
She said that a dedicated user friendly website allowing registration of investors, producers, marketers, famers etc could be launched for free flow of engagement of networking between the interested parties. “Collaboration, public- private partnerships and cooperation can take this movement forward in Phase 3 of Aroma Mission,” she added.
Prof Rohmetra appreciated the team of CSIR-IIIM Jammu for organizing such a mega event wherein variety of issues was being debated for promotion of the Lavender cultivation in the region. She suggested having a directory of all involved in the Mission. She said that the unused portions and areas of land may be considered for Lavender cultivation in Bhaderwah-Doda region, along with traditional crops like maize, rajma, etc.
During the event, all the participants made their deliberations one by one and showcased their achievements, constraints, experiences and future capacity building charters. In this workshop, the scientists of CSIR IIIM Jammu imparted awareness and training to all the participants on Aroma Mission.
Emphasizing the initiatives of better yield, better quality, value additions, packaging, labeling, branding and marketing, the CSIR-IIIM Enforcement Officers explored the topics at broad spectrum. The participating officials and farmers were also presented mementoes.
The meeting ended with vote of thanks presented by Dr Sumit Garola from CSIR-IIIM Jammu.
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