Department of Agriculture Jammu organized a one day Training Programme on Mushroom Cultivation for the farmers and mushroom growers of Jammu District in collaboration with the J & K Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organization (ITCO) which is actively engaged in generating awareness and providing skill development training to farmers especially women and youth in agriculture.Speaking at the inaugural session Director Agriculture Jammu Dr. S. S. Jamwal advised the mushroom entrepreneurs, growers and farmers to learn various technical aspects of mushroom cultivation to increase their income. He asked them to make use of every opportunity to get information with regard to different schemes being implemented by different agencies like ITCO, Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) and NABARD.
He further advised the farmers to organize themselves into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and Mushroom Grower Clubs to facilitate end to end linkage in mushroom cultivation up to marketing. He further revealed that the Spawn Production Laboratory at Talab Tillo is being upgraded and modernized for supply of good quality spawn to farmers.Dr. Sachin Gupta, Associate Professor (Plant Pathology) and Dr. Anju Bhat, Associate Professor (Post Harvest Technology) SKUAST-J also delivered lectures on round the year cultivation of mushroom and value addition of mushroom produce respectively.Mr Vinay Kumar, Senior Consultant ITCO delivered lecture on aims and objectives of ITCO and scope of entrepreneurship development in mushroom sector.