Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF), Nauni vice-chancellor Parvinder Kaushal on Monday urged the students to utilize village attachment to learn about the nuances of hill farming.

Addressing students who were part of the Rural Awareness Work Experience (RAWE) programme, Kaushal called on the students to make the most of this practical exposure.

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“Go with an open mind, as this is a fantastic opportunity to learn from the people who are working on the fields.

This will not only help to broaden your horizons as you will get to interact with the end-users and the biggest stakeholders of the know-how and novel technologies developed in institutions like ours.

Being ambassadors of the university, you must cherish this opportunity to interact with farmers, analyze their problems and look to provide easily applicable scientific solutions to them with consultation with experts,” he said.

He added that the programme provides a unique opportunity to understand the rural setting in relation to horticulture and allied activities in different agro-climatic zones.

He asked the students to strictly follow all the COVID protocols in order to ensure the safety of the group and the villagers hosting them.

The UHF was attaching 51 final year B Sc (Hons) Horticulture students to villages with the aim of familiarizing them with the socio-economic conditions of farmers and their farming techniques under the RAWE programme.

The RAWE is a compulsory part of the degree as per Indian Council of Agricultural Research norms and the students are paid a stipend during the programme.

The students, who have been divided into two groups, will be visiting all the four-agro climatic zones of the state.

The Regional Research Stations/ Krishi Vigyan Kendras at Kullu, Jachh, Chamba and Kandaghat will be hosting each group for one week each.

After a period of one week, the students will shift to a new climatic zone thereby covering all the zones in the stipulated period.

A group of villages under each zone has been selected and small subgroups from main groups will be attached to each village.

The objective is to learn about rural social-cultural settings, rural development, topographical variations, climate change, animal husbandry, fruits, vegetables and cooperatives working along with understanding the culture. Scientists farmer’s interactions will also be a part of the programme.