17 day Pashu Sakhis Training Programme begins at SKUAST-Jammu

JAMMU : National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) Anand, Gujarat in collaboration with SKUAST-Jammu today started Training programme of Pashu Sakhis for implementation of A-HELP Programme in J&K. Directorate of Extension of the University. Dr. Sumati Sharma, former ADG, DRDO was the chief guest at the inaugural day.

In her address, she said that rural women play an important role towards generating awareness among dairy farmers about cattle care, one of the major mainstays in the rural landscape and eventually achieving economic emancipation and self-reliance for the community in general and themselves in particular.

Inaugurating 17-days training programme “Pashu Sakhi” at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology (SKUAST) at Jammu this morning, Dr. Sumiti exuded confidence that the inmates will fan out in their respective areas and works with devotion and dedication to generate awareness and create capacity building of the community on livestock based livelihood activities.“Such an initiative would facilitate aggregation and marketing of the livestock products in a big way”, she said, adding that this is imperative for encouraging agriculture entrepreneurship in the rural community, a key to productivity and self-reliance of the farmers.

SKUAST-J has been designated as a Nodal Agency for implementation of A-Help Programme in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for training of the Pashu Sakhis. Master trainers Dr. Ankush Reothia, Dr. Hunny Sharma, Dr. Massarat Ahmed, Dr. Irafat Ali and Dr. Anjali Katoch are conducting training of the first batch of 25 Pashu Sakhi women trainees from Bhaderwah, Ghagwal and Samba.

The training programme is being organized under the supervision and guidance of Prof. J.P. Sharma, VC SKUAST-Jammu.

Nodal Officer and Director Extension, Dr. S.K. Gupta while addressing the trainees elaborately dwelt upon the objectives of the programme, which inter-alia include making livestock based livelihoods sustainable and viable enterprises for the rural poor; specific focus on the ultra poor households who have limited or no access to land or other factors of production and building a strong extension network of livestock workers who are the community based practitioners and are accountable to the community institutions.

Dr Ashok Gupta, General Manager NDDB, Anand and Dr. Tariq Parvez, CEO Livestock Development Board, Jammu said the initiative envisages strengthening the existing livelihoods of the rural poor by bringing in a clear impetus on livestock related activities.

Dr. Ashok Gupta, Agronomist, SKUAST-Jammu gave a brief about the Programme, saying the trainees would help in identifying the cases, providing medication, vaccinations and counseling the farmers about remedial and preventive measures.

The speakers highlighted the main plank of the initiative, which focuses on providing door step first aid and counseling services for disease prevention by the Pashu Sakhis and management and demonstration of best practices and enterprise management in their own houses. They will also work as monitoring and support service providers for the project. They will visit each goat house and assess the condition. A regular monitoring on disease spread and decrease in frequency of morbidity (disease) is kept through data analysis. They will provide critical feedback on adoption and suggest appropriate practice, technology or input based on the relevance and feasibility. Rahul Nair, Coordinator from NDDB, Anand was also present on the occasion.

Dr. Pawan Sharma and Dr. S.S. Jamwal conducted the proceedings of the training programme. Dr. Tariq Parvez extended vote of thanks.