Impact Of Lavender Cultivation Under Aroma Mission In Doda District Of Jammu Region

Abstract

newline Aroma Mission (launched in 2016) is a flagship programme of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) which aims at rural empowerment through cultivation, processing, value addition and marketing of aromatic plants such as lavender, mint, vetiver, lemon grass, palmarosa, ocimum, patchouli, rosemary, wild marigold and valerian. Lavender cultivation brought purple revolution to the farmers. India imports 42 tonnes of lavender oil worth Rs. 18 million per annum. In JandK, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine introduced lavender cultivation in the temperate regions of Jammu division in 2016. Lavender is being grown in JandK over an estimated area of 900 acres with an annual production of 3000 lt of lavender oil. To generalize the impact of lavender cultivation under Aroma mission, a study entitled Impact of Lavender Cultivation under Aroma Mission in Doda District of Jammu Region was undertaken. Based on the feasibility, one-shot case study research design was employed for the study.A list of lavender growing farmers was procured from concerned stakeholders. From the procured list, 210 lavender growers were selected by using proportionate random sampling technique from Bhalla, Bhaderwahand Dodatehsils. These 210 lavender growers belonged to 30 villages, that is 13, 7 and 10 villages of Bhalla, Bhaderwah and Doda tehsils respectively.Results revealed that no significant differences were observed between respondents of Bhalla and Bhaderwah in case of age, education, family size and experience in lavender cultivation whereas significant difference was found in case of area under lavender cultivation. Results regarding knowledgeaboutlavender production recommendations showed that overall 74 per cent of lavender growers had medium level of knowledge. Age, land holding, social participation, trainings attended, education and area under lavender cultivation significantly affected the knowledge of lavender growers. There was significant difference in the attitude of respondents ofBhalla and Bha