awareness programme on large cardamom organized at Pedong Community hall

Mukesh Sharma: An awareness programme on large cardamom was organized at Pedong Community hall today during which the GTA councilor Prof Kalyan Dewan was present as the special guest under whose authority comes the Agriculture Department. The Pedong constituency councilor Dawa Lepcha and the cardamom farmers of the area were present at large.Officers from the concerned department educated the farmers about cardamom cultivation and its maintenance. The programme also witnessed distribution of 3000 cardamom saplings for free to the farmers by the hands of Prof Dewan. Further, the department also distributed cheques to 37 gladiolus farmers as a financial help from the government. It may be mentioned that the said financial help for the gladiolus farmers was pending since 2002.Addressing the programme, Prof Dewan said that he has been allotted the Agriculture Department, because he himself is a farmer. The Department which has become stagnant since the past 10 years shall now be developed and the farmers shall benefit under it, he assured. He stressed that the main reason for the farmers not to flourish is because they do not get returns as per their hard work. Agriculture has been seen as a lower level occupation, but from now onwards, things shall change, claimed Prof Dewan. The farmers of the hills will be delivered all kind facilities under various schemes of the Centre and farming will be far beyond than occupation, he asserted. Lastly, highlighting the importance of being a farmer, he said that it is useless to go outside in search for jobs when one can earn good money through agriculture.