This will ensure sustainable growth, increased income and fresh avenues of livelihood for farmers

The central government has proposed Integrated Aroma Dairy Entrepreneurship to augment the income of farmers in Jammu and Kashmir.

The proposal was discussed by Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Member of Parliament from J&K Jitendra Singh when he called on Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala on Tuesday.

According to Singh, Jammu & Kashmir has abundant stock of Animal Husbandry and Dairy resources. He suggested that this can be effectively integrated with Aroma Mission, which has already been launched in J&K by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Reelsearch (CSIR) under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

This will pave the way for integrated Aroma Dairy Entrepreneurship, ensuring sustainable growth, increased income and fresh avenues of livelihood for farmers, an official release quoted Singh as saying.

The Aroma Mission, also referred to as yhe "Lavender or Purple Revolution", has transformed the lives of farmers who are able to grow lavender and make lucrative profits.

Thanks to the efforts of CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM), the crop native to Europe has been introduced in the districts of Doda, Kishtwar and Rajouri in J&K.

Under the Aroma Mission, apart from providing planting material, distillation units are provided and farmers are trained in extraction. Many of them have become entrepreneurs as lavender oil is quite sought after.

Apart from Lavender, many high value aromatic and medicinal cash crops have been introduced in the Union Territory. It is now being expanded as Aroma Mission Phase II while a floriculture mission has also been launched recently.