Excelsior Correspondent
SAMBA, Sept 24: One day skill development program on Value Addition of fruits and vegetables was organised at Apni Mandi Tapyal by AGMO Samba Department of Horticulture Planning & Marketing in collaboration with District Canning Centre Jammu.
A number of farmers, growers, household ladies and unemployed youth from Tapyal, Gaghwal, Rajpura, Nonath & adjoining areas attended the live demonstration cum training programme. Arvind Panjgotra, Assistant Director Marketing, Anuj Verma AGMO Samba, Dr. Neerja SMS KVK Samba, Priya Laxmi CDPO, Ghagwal, Dheeraj Sharma HDO Gaghwal, Avinash Singh Jasrotia, Chairman Advisory Committee Apni Mandi Tapyal, Jia Lal, Anju Devi president, Bharat Bushan, secretary & Karan Singh, treasurer Local Management Committee, Apni Mandi Tapyal and other members of Local Management and Advisory Committee Apni Mandi Tapyal were present on the occasion.
Addressing gathering on the occasion, Anuj Verma AGMO Samba said that the agriculturists of J&K need to be fully empowered, so as to minimize their exploitation in hands of middleman. Apart from growing demand driven & protected crop, the agriculturists of Samba district need to adopt proper Post Harvesting Techniques like conditioning, sorting, grading, packing and branding of their produce.
AD Marketing Arvind Panjgotra appreciated efforts put in by AGMO Samba and the Local Management Committee of farmers for providing a free of cost facility to the local farmers at Apni Mandi Tapyal for sale of their produce without any commission.
Dr. Neerja SMS KVK Samba suggested upon value addition of seasonal fruits and vegetables by processing them.
Priya Laxami CDPO Gaghwal impressed upon females to learn Food Processing skills so as to help their family members increase their total family income.
Chairman Advisory Committee, Apni Mandi Tapyal Avinash Singh Jasrotia asked the farmers of Ghagwal, Rajpura & other adjoining areas to take benefits of platform providing at Apni Mandi Tapyal and get themselves liberated out of clutches of middleman.