Satellite centres for Aromatic Crops will be set up in 5 Districts | Uttarakhand | 18 Apr 2023

Why in News?

On 17 April 2023, the Director of the Aromatic Plant Center, Selakui, Nripendra Singh Chauhan informed that satellite centres will be opened in five districts to promote the cultivation of aromatic crops in the state and provide technical information to the farmers.

Key Points

• In order to provide all the facilities to the farmers doing Aroma cultivation at their doorstep, a plan is being made by the Aroma Plant Center Selakui to open satellite centres in five districts. With this, along with the technical information about farming, seeds and plants will also be available at the satellite centre.
• With the opening of these centres, the farmers of hilly areas will not have to travel to Dehradun to get information about seeds, plants and aromatic cultivation.
• Till now the farmers had to come to Selakui for training in aromatic cultivation, seeds and saplings at the Aromatic Plant Center. Satellite centres will be set up to provide facilities to the farmers at the district level.
• Tejpat at Khateda in Champawat district, Timur at Bisad in Pithoragarh, Surai at Raithal in Uttarkashi, Parasari in Chamoli and Damask Gulab at Takula in Almora district will be opened.
• It is known that 21,000 farmers are cultivating aromatic crops in an area of about 8,000 hectares in the state. Wild animals, monkeys and lack of irrigation facilities are a big problem in front of the farmers of hilly areas. In view of the increasing demand in the market for oil and perfume prepared from aromatic plants, the government is encouraging farmers to cultivate aromas.
• It is worth mentioning that on 22 February 2023, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had inaugurated the first centre of excellence dedicated entirely to aromatic crops at the Aromatic Plant Center, Selakui.