Poonch July 23 : School of Biotechnology, University of Jammu
organized farmer’s awareness meet for introduction of Saffron
cultivation in non-traditional areas in Poonch district, in
collaboration with Poonch Campus, of University of Jammu. The meeting
was conducted in hybrid mode.
The meet was conducted under a transdisciplinary Project entitled
“Socio-Economic effect of cultivating saffron using in-house developed
method” sanction to Prof. Jyoti Vakhlu School of Biotechnology, Dr
Shallu Shegal from Dept. of Economics, Dr. Aubid Hussain Parrey from
Department of management, Dr. Sunil Sharma from Department of
statistics and Dr. Sheetal Ambardar from institutional research fund
of University of Jammu.
Prof. Umesh Rai, Honourable Vice Chancellor, JU, who has great vision
for University of Jammu, believes that the research at the University
level should have some translational effect. Prof. Rai strongly
believes that knowledge generated in the University should finally
benefit common man.
Saffron, heritage crop of Jammu and Kashmir is primarily cultivated in
Pampore of Pulwama and Kishtwar region of Jammu. The demand of saffron
is huge and growing day by day due to its use in medicine and
cosmetics in addition to food. However, the yield is on decline due to
various reasons climate change and corm rot being two most
contributing reasons.
In pursuit of increasing the product, the team led by Prof. Jyoti
Vakhlu conducted pilot field experiment in various non-traditional
regions in Jammu with conducive pedoclimatic conditions to traditional
saffron cultivating regions in the years 2018 to 2022. The pilot study
led to selection of Poonch district as one of the potential areas for
saffron cultivation. These Pilot studies were conducted in
collaboration with Mr. Aijaz Ahmed Bylla; a progress farmer and a
school teacher from Bylla village in Poonch.
Director Poonch campus Prof. Rakesh Vaid in his address congratulated
School of Biotechnology, Poonch Campus University of Jammu especially
Prof. Jyoti Vakhlu School of Biotechnology University of Jammu for
organising this awareness meet for introduction of Saffron cultivation
in non-traditional areas in Poonch district. “Such awareness
programmes on Saffron Cultivation at Poonch District will definitely
help farmers to increase their income,” he added
The JU SBT team that included Dr. Shanu Mangora, Mr. Tahir Ali and Dr.
Nancy Bhagat have developed and evaluated a bio-formulation that
enhances yield of saffron in fields. Now, in the transdisciplinary
project funded by University, this study is being up scaled and
extended to larger area in non traditional areas in Poonch. The meet
was organized to educate 25 selected progressive farmers about
cultivation of saffron using in-house technology.
Mr. Tahir Ali, senior research scholar made presentation about how the
saffron cultivation can be done, followed by the demonstration video
by Dr. Nancy Bhagat about how to use in-house technology. This was
followed by the discussion and interaction of farmer with the PI of
the project i.e. Dr. Shallu, Dr. Aubid and Dr. Sunil.
Since, the aim of the project is to increase farmer’s income in
addition to saffron cultivation; the team will analyse the outcome
using robust scientific methods. In addition, the team would try to
market it with efficient marketing strategy for the saffron spice
produced at Mandi.
Javed Ahmed Bhatt progressive farmer from Pampore region of Pulwama
shared his first hand experience in saffron cultivation practices.
Farmers those who attended via offline as well online mode were very
happy with the workshop and promised full support to the mission of
saffron cultivation in Poonch.
Dr Rubia Bukhari Campus officer Poonch Campus while speaking on the
occasion said that the initiative of School of Biotechnology
University of Jammu for introduction of Saffron cultivation in
non-traditional areas in Poonch district is a ray of hope for the
farmers of the area to cultivate saffron and earn more money to change
their way of living. “Poonch Campus is already working with the
farmers of the Poonch district to adopt new techniques for the Cocoon
production and this new initiative from Prof. Jyoti Vakhlu from the
School of Biotechnology University of Jammu has brought era of new
revolutions in this border town Poonch,’ She said adding further that
in future also such awareness programmes will definitely yield good
results.
Director SBT, JU Prof. Sanjana Koul and Director Poonch campus Prof.
Rakesh Vaid, were present during this interaction. School of
Biotechnology acknowledges Ch. Mohd Yasin, Divisional Commisioner
Poonch for all the administrative support. The program was organized
by Ms. Ritika Mansotra, Ms. Ayushi Verma, Ms. Nitika Sharma and Ms.
Shallu Changotra research scholars of the Metagenomics lab, School of
Biotechnology and from Poonch campus Dr. Rubia Bukhari, campus officer
and her team.
