The 3rd Lavender Festival will begin today at Bhaderwah in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir. Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh will inaugurate the two-day event.
Organised by CSIR Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM), Jammu, the festival will also host an Agri Startup Expo, showcasing innovations in value-added products and technologies related to Lavender.
Akashvani’s Correspondent reports that this year’s Lavender Festival will be unique in many ways, as it celebrates the growing success of lavender cultivation under the CSIR-Aroma Mission, not only across the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir but also in extended regions such as Uttarakhand and the North-Eastern states.
The CSIR-Aroma Mission, a flagship programme of Union Ministry of Science & Technology, which was closely mentored by Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, has played a pivotal role in empowering rural communities through the cultivation of lavender by engaging over 5 thousand farmers and young entrepreneurs in remote areas, providing free Quality
Planting Material (QPM) and complete technological support, covering cultivation, processing, value addition and marketing. Under this mission, more than 50 distillation units across J&K were installed to support local-level processing of lavender produce.
Tehsil Bhaderwah in District Doda has emerged as a model region under the mission, wherein farmers have sold Quality Planting Material of Lavender worth over Rs. 1 crore. Local growers have produced 15 hundred kilograms of lavender oil and 93 thousand kilograms of dried lavender flowers, which were successfully marketed. A total business turnover of Rs. 10.5 crore has been recorded, highlighting the mission’s substantial socio-economic impact.
The initiative has not only boosted income levels but also fostered women’s empowerment, with increased participation of women in the lavender farming and related enterprises. The primary objective of the Lavender Festival is to celebrate this success and further promote agri-based entrepreneurship in aromatic crops.
The event will bring together a diverse group of participants, including, Farmers, Scientists and Researchers, Startups and Industrialists, Policy makers and civil society representatives from across the country. The Lavender Festival aims to serve as a catalyst in transforming the agro-economy of the region, with potential for long-term national economic impact.
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