CSIR-IIIM Jammu organizes Flower Show and Aroma Mission National Workshop.

CSIR-IIIM organised annual Flower show cum Kisan Mela on 09.03.2018 at Chatha Field Station. This annual event was organised as part of a major research & development mission programme known as CSIR-Aroma Mission: Value Addition of High Value Aroma Ingredients for Socio-Economic Upliftment & Rural Prosperity. On this occasion, a large number of participants from civil society of Jammu took part in the flower showcasing, the researchers demonstrated their agricultural research and practices activities whereas the entrepreneurs and other stake holders have shared their experience of working in collaboration with CSIR-IIIM, Jammu.

Dr. Ram Vishwakarma, Director informed the audience about the aims and objectives of the National seminar-cum-Exhibition on Kisan Mela, Entrepreneurship programme and Flower Show and also highlighted the achievement of the CSIR-Aroma Mission: Value Addition of High Value Aroma Ingredients for Socio-Economic Upliftment & Rural Prosperity. He said that this event is organised annually to introduce latest advancements in the area of medicinal and aromatic plants aiming at improving the socioeconomic conditions of the State in general and farming community/growers in particular.

He said that J&K State is ideally suited for the cultivation of high value medicinal and aromatic plants, nutraceuticals flowers, bulbs and the seeds throughout the year. Cultivation of aromatic & medicinal plants and floriculture has assumed greater significance as these high value cash crops apart from generating good income has huge employment potential for rural population of the State. He also informed that the farmers of J&K State have right opportunity to make the best use of the waste and barren land they have.

Sh. Balwant Thakur, Director ICCR was chief guest on the occasion who inaugurated the National seminar-cum-Exhibition on Kisan Mela, Entrepreneurship programme and Flower show and gave the prizes to the winners of various categories. While speaking on the occasion, Balwant Thakur said that there is a need for adopting improved varieties of cash crops in agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants to increase the yield and quality of the material. He appreciated the efforts of CSIR-IIIM, Jammu in promoting the Floriculture and cultivation of Medicinal and Aromatic plants in the country.

This event was organised under the supervision of Dr. Ram Vishwakarma, Director, IIIM and President of Workshop, Er. Rajneesh Anand, Chief Scientist & Chairman, Dr. Dhiraj Vyas, and Dr. Sumeet Gairola.

At concluding of the function, prize distribution was done for the on spot floral painting, best lawns and flowers competitions organised by IIIM. In the floral painting competition , in the category of 5-8 years, Keshav Verma and Radhika of Shiksha Niketan School got 1st & 2nd Prizez and Vinayak Singh of BSF School, Jammu bagged third prize. In 9-12 years category, Himadari Anand of APS Jammu, Manasi Kalsi of BSF school and Simranjat Kour of KV Sunjawan received 1st, 2nd & third prizes respectively. Similarly in 13-`16 year category, Mohd Shehzad Abdullah of APS Ratnuchak, Manik Billowria of BSF School and Shallu, RRL School won 1st , 2nd & 3rd prizes.

Preceding this, a national workshop on "CSIR-Aroma Mission: Value Addition of High Value Aroma Ingredients For Socio-Economic Upliftment & Rural Prosperity" was also organised to do a brainstorming for devising the strategies for value addition of aromatic plants that can empower farmers and promote entrepreneurship in rural areas.

The delegates, industrialists and entrepreneurs drawn from all over India attended this workshop. This workshop was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Ram Vishwakarma, Director, IIIM and President of Workshop, Rajneesh Anand, Chief Scientist and Chairman and Dr. Tasduq Abdullah, Organising Secretary.