Aroma Mission
Aroma Mission for the Lavender cultivation in Jammu region has changed lives of people especially farmers in Bhaderwah.
The CSIR-Aroma Mission is a flagship project of CSIR under which Lavender cultivation is being promoted in the temperate regions of J&K. The aim of the project is to increase the income of small and marginal farmers and develop agriculture-based Startups. The project is being directly monitored by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble Union Minister of State (IC) of the Ministry of Science & Technology. Under his direction, CSIR-IIIM is implementing Lavender cultivation in Bhaderwah and other parts of J&K.
It is important to mention that over many decades of scientific interventions, the CSIR-IIIM has developed its elite variety (RRL-12) and agrotechnology of Lavender. The variety of Lavender is highly suitable for cultivation in the rainfed temperate regions of India. Under CSIR-Aroma Mission, CSIR-IIIM introduced Lavender and provided more than 30 Lakh free Lavender plants to the farmers of different districts of J&K. The end-to-end technology package for cultivation, processing, value addition, and marketing of the Lavender crop were also provided to the farmers. CSIR-IIIM installed fifty distillation units (45 fixed and five mobile) at different locations across J&K to support farmers in processing their produce.
Many small and marginal maize farmers in the temperate regions of the Jammu division have successfully adopted Lavender. Lavender cultivation has employed large numbers of farmers and young entrepreneurs in the geographically remote regions of J&K. Due to the intervention of CSIR-IIIM, a new industry around Lavender cultivation has developed in the region. More than 2500 farmers are cultivating Lavender in different parts of J&K.
