‘Purple Revolution’ transforms lives: More J&K, North-East farmers turn to lavender
SRINAGAR: As ‘Aroma Mission’ or ‘Purple Revolution’ has changed the lives of thousands of farmers for better in Jammu and Kashmir and beyond, as many as four lakh plants of lavender were distributed among them at the end of an awareness-cum-training programme held in Bhaderwah, a scenic town situated in the lap of Himalayas about 184-km east of Jammu, at the weekend, officials said on Monday.
They said that more than two hundred farmers and the North-Eastern states wishing to turn to lavender farming participated in the programme.
Lavender or purple revolution was launched by the Union Ministry of Science & Technology through the ‘Aroma Mission’ of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 2016 and, so far, thousands of farmers have turned to lavender cultivation in almost all the twenty districts of J&K, Ladakh and some other parts of the country.
“Farmers are quite happy with farming of unconventional aromatic plants especially lavender under the ‘Aroma Mission’ for it has transformed their lives with bringing them more income,” said an official of J&K’s Floriculture Department. The aim of the mission is to support domestic aromatic crop-based agro-economy by moving from imported aromatic oils to home-grown varieties. These oils are in great demand by the aroma industry; hence paying comparatively good dividends to farmers.
At the weekend, about 200 farmers from J&K’s Ramban, Doda, Reasi and Udhampur districts and another 15 from Meghalaya and Nagaland relocated to Bhaderwah to attend the awareness-cum-training programme on cultivation and processing of aromatic plants. The programme was organised by the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicines. “The special training programme on catalysing rural empowerment through cultivation processing, value addition and marketing of aromatic plants for J&K and North-Eastern region was held under CSIR’s Aroma Mission phase II,” said an official.
At the end of the programme, four lakh lavender saplings were distributed among the participating farmers.
Union minister of state Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh said earlier that Doda district with other parts of the Chenab valley and its neighbouring districts could be branded as a role model in the country in lavender farming as more and more farmers are taking up lavender cultivation on commercial scale for it being a profitable farming.
