Two training courses were conducted by the skill development centre, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), for the welfare of farmers, farm women of Punjab and technocrats of International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC), Bathinda.

Under the stewardship of director of extension education MS Bhullar,17 farmers and rural women attended the five-day training course on the “Preservation of fruits and vegetables at domestic level”, while 24 technocrats participated in one-day training course that apprised them of seed production and its marketing.

Associate director of skill development Rupinder Kaur informed that the experts gave hand-on-demonstrations in the preparation of amla candy and murabba; tomato juice, puree, sauce, squash and nectar; fruit jam and mixed vegetable pickle.

Course coordinator Prerna Kapila called for empowering rural community for economic independence.

Technical coordinator Arshdeep Singh explained the increased benefits of preservation of fruits and vegetables. Motivating the trainees to venture into their businesses, he observed that the course would go a long way in sustaining livelihoods nutritionally, professionally, and financially. He assured full support in terms of technical guidance from the department of food science and technology.

Deepak Arora dwelt upon vegetable seed production, and business management expert Khusdeep Dharni provided useful marketing tips which could result in monetary benefits to the technocrats.

Indo-US workshop on Jan 23 and 24

PAU is all set to hold an Indo-US workshop on horticultural crops in collaboration with California State University, Fresno, US, on January 23 and 24. Various committees have been constituted for the smooth conduct of the workshop which will dwell upon diverse aspects of horticulture that is making outstanding contributions to diversification as well as sustainable livelihoods of the agricultural community.