Cluster meeting of plant doctors conducted under CABI’s Plantwise Prog

Jammu: A one day Cluster meeting of Plant Doctors was conducted under CABI’s Plantwise Program at Krishi Bhawan Jammu Thursday under the Chairmanship of Director Agriculture, Jammu, H. K. Razdan.
Speaking on the occasion, Director Agriculture said there is need to widen the scope and content of work progress of the ongoing Plant Clinics to mitigate the insect pests and disease problems of crops. He impressed upon the officers of department and CABI to organize the refresher trainings of the Plant Doctors regularly to update knowledge about various aspects of the pest management including data collection, online validation, analysis and recommendations. He said the data for incidence of pest and diseases generated at the Plant Clinics will be very useful for forecasting the pest incidence and to take preventive measures at the appropriate time.
Earlier while presenting the preview of PLANTWISE program, Dr Vinod Pandit, Program Leader, CABI, South Asia said Directorate of Agriculture Jammu and Centre for Agricultural Biosciences International (CABI) is working towards quality management advisory system through Plant Clinics in the identified clusters on pilot basis. These clinics are equipped with Tablets and USB Microscopes to operate under ICT system for quick and readily available information through “Plantwise Online Management System” (POMS) which provides complete database and advisory for plant pest and diseases.
Arun Khajuria, AEO, Plant Health Clinic Jammu presented the achievements of 16 Plant Clinics established in three districts namely Jammu, Kathua and Samba for the year 2017. Various activity sessions including interaction and feedback, Plant Doctor self assessment, problem diagnosis, live sample identification and presentation on future planning were conducted during the program.
The program was attended by R. K. Bindroo, Agriculture Chemist, Jammu, C. M. Sharma, Deputy Director of Agriculture (Central), Jammu, J. C. Raina, Agriculture Information Officer, Vikas Sharma, AEO Information besides others.