RONO HILLS, Nov 12: Rajiv Gandhi University’s (RGU) botany department and the state environment & forests department’s Envis Centre are jointly organizing an intensive training programme on ‘value addition and marketing of NTFP of medicinal plant origin’ from 12-26 November at the university campus here in Papum Pare district.
The programme is sponsored by the Envis Centre, under the environment, forests & climate change ministry’s Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP). Thirty trainees from different parts of the state are participating in it.
RGU Vice Chancellor Prof Saket Kushwaha inaugurated the programme on Monday, and in his address emphasized on skill development as a priority area in Arunachal Pradesh.
He urged the trainees to develop skills related to plant identification, cultivation, and market linkages, and said RGU was looking forward to establish “a skill incubation centre for translation of theoretical knowledge of the young talents into practical dimension knowledge by connecting their skills with farmers, industry and market.”
The VC emphasized the need for a “synergistic approach in the work culture by involving persons of different backgrounds, such as medicinal plant experts, farmers, economists and commerce experts” to bring about reliable output and generation of self-employment avenues among the rural youth.
“Arunachal Pradesh is blessed with rich wealth of natural bio-resources, including medicinal plants, which must be judiciously and sustainably used for the socioeconomic development of the people,” Prof Kushwaha said.
He said the youths must train in different sectors, including medicinal plants cultivation and management, in such a way that they become job providers instead of job seekers.
RGU Registrar Prof Tomo Riba advised the trainees to learn from the master trainers and resource persons during the two-week training in order to become “more practical in managing medicinal plant bio-resources, which is a precious heritage of the state.”
He called upon the youths to be hard-working and to manage the natural resources judiciously “while doing a commercial valuation.”
Botany HoD Dr Hui Tag informed the trainees about the relevance of skill-based training in the medicinal plants sector in Arunachal Pradesh, and Envis Centre coordinator Dohu Robin spoke about the aims and objectives of the GSDP.
Envis-RGU programme convenor Dr Oyi Dai Nimachow also spoke.
