India: 10,000 Delhiites to get training in urban farming at 400 workshops
As the land available for plantation purposes reduces in future, urban farming plays an important role as it provides an option to people to grow crops on their rooftop or balcony.
By Priyangi Agarwal
TNN
Aug 22, 2023
Excerpt:
The forest department has started the process of hiring 40 master trainers to conduct workshops on urban farming in all wards for the public. They will train 10,000 people through 400 workshops.The urban farming project was announced by the Delhi government in Rozgar Budget last year, but got delayed. The forest department will now launch the project in September.
“We have invited applications to hire 40 master trainers, who will be trained by experts from Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Combating Climate Change in a two-day programme. They will then conduct ward-wise hands-on workshops for the public,” said a senior forest official.Under the urban farming programme, 25 participants will be trained at each ward. The master trainers will be given an honorarium of Rs 2,000 per session.
“People will be trained for manure and soil preparation, seed selection, garden maintenance, site section for plant species, etc,” said an official. A kit comprising seasonal vegetable and flower seeds will be given to each participant and there will be follow-up sessions to support the participants, he added. Apart from workshops for people to develop urban farming clusters, the environment department, in collaboration with various industry partners, will conduct the entrepreneurship training programme.
“This training will be given to raise citizens’ awareness about urban farming and increase the opportunity of green jobs by training youth and women in urban farming, maintenance of urban farming infrastructure, marketing, etc,” said an official.Environment minister Gopal Rai had earlier said, ” As the land available for plantation purposes reduces in future, urban farming plays an important role as it provides an option to people to grow crops on their rooftop or balcony. In each ward, two workshops will be organised where people will be taught how to grow different vegetables.
