By Our Correspondent
SAMBALPUR/BHUBANESWAR:Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said while inaugurating the ‘Women Empowerment Training Camp through Art, Agarwati and Dye Preparation from Flower Residues’ at Nildunguri, Sambalpur, that it is not just a program, but a powerful means of making our mothers and sisters self-reliant.
Shri Pradhan today appreciated the “Hands-on-Training” training camp organized by CSIR-National Forest Research Institute, Lucknow and the district administration at the Horticulture Training Institute (HTI) premises. He said that under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Flower Farming Mission, our mothers and sisters will make invitation cards and other art items from leftover flowers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has envisioned seeing our mother power as ‘Lakshapati Didi’. With today’s system, rural women will become entrepreneurs through new technology. Local resources will be utilized optimally and women will grow economically. Shri Pradhan thanked CSIR-National Forest Research Institute and the district administration for this commendable effort.
He said, our Yujumura region of Sambalpur is a region of hardworking farmers. The farmer brothers of this land have demonstrated their skills in cultivating pulses, almonds, sesame, various fruits and vegetables. But to give this skill a big commercial form, we have to take some strong steps. We have to prepare an ‘Agricultural Master Plan’ at each panchayat level. I give this responsibility to the district administration to pay attention to how to expedite irrigation projects in Yujumura region. With the convenience of irrigation, farmers can harvest crops throughout the year.
Nowadays, traditional farming alone is not enough, but the agricultural economy has to be given a ‘commercial model’ or commercial form. Our main goal is to strengthen the rural economy for the financial prosperity of the people. Be it flower farming or vegetable farming, the two basic conditions for this are proper training and proper marketing system. That is, farmers must get the right price for their produce. A ‘local brand’ should be created for the products produced in Yujumura. If our packaging and branding are world-class, then the demand for our products will increase. Today, vegetables of our state are being exported to foreign markets. Efforts should be made to take the handicrafts of our farmers of Yujumura and Sambalpur to the foreign markets. He expressed that today’s training program is a commendable step in that direction.
