The Sericulture Department AJK has distributed free rearing kits among the farmers for silkworm rearing and mulberry plantation during the upcoming season.

State Sericulture Department Chief Syed Ali Asghar Shah distributed the kits, comprising the latest equipment, amongst the farmers in a simple ceremony held in the state capital Muzaffarabad.

Such distribution ceremonies were also held in different parts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir benefitting hundreds of farmers, spokesperson for the Sericulture Department Assistant Director Kashif Azad told WealthPK.

Kashif said the training was imparted to at least 1500 farmers during the three-day sessions arranged in various parts of the state.

The rearing kits were distributed among the farmers at the mulberry centres in Sehnsa, Charhoi, Khoiratta in Kotli district and Samahani, Chamb and Afzalpur towns of Mirpur district during a broad-based drive to attract the existing and intending farmers to earn money through silk-worm rearing for a stipulated 35-day period, the spokesman added.

The State Sericulture Department, founded by a seasoned long-time sericulture expert late Abdul Hamid Nizami in 1951, has been providing the poor and landless farmers with an additional source of income.

“The self-service-based activity is imperative for poverty alleviation as well as for women empowerment,” Ali Asghar Shah said.

“Last season, the farmers secured highly attractive volumes of the crop and earned more than Rs13 million,” the Sericulture Department chief added.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk