TRAINING FOR CAPACITY BUILDING OF FARMERS ON SUSTAINABLE AGROECOLOGY
Trainings for capacity building of farmers on sustainable agro- ecology that includes soil management, composting techniques, integrated pest management and various mushroom cultivation training(Shitake, Oyster and Milky) in Yuksam for the buffer village of Khanchendzonga National Park UNESCO World heritage site and KBR for additional income generation, Funded by WWF-India-Sikkim office in collaboration with Khanchendzonga Conservation Committee KCC. A days training was concluded in Yuksam on 8th February 2022 for Capacity Building on Sustainable Agro Ecology and Mushroom Cultivation for farmers of West Sikkim. The training program was an activity under the ongoing Snow Leopard Conservation program of WWF-India supported by UK. The program was organized in Yuksam in collaboration with Khangchendzonga Conservation Committee.KCC. More than 60 participants attended the training program from Gerethang-Labing GPU and Yuksam Dubdi GPU. Resource person Shri Bishnu Chettri, President from Kalimpong Krishi Kalayaan Shang interacted with the farmers on topics like Soil Enrichment, Natural Pest Predators, he also addressed to issues of cardamom plantation and highlighted on the techniques that a farmer usually miss during the plantation. He also mentioned about easy way to make organic fertilizers at home which would not only initiate good crop production but also help in strengthening the organic mission of the state. Similarly vermin-composting was also discussed during the training and easy ways to implement the same was also mentioned by him. He also mentioned that Sikkim has been very fortunate to haveproactive Government on organic farmin land has lot of schemes for farmers in place 9 and farmers only need to plan better and take the opportunities.The second session was on mushroom cultivation, he mentioned about different types of mushroom (Oyster, Button, Shittake) and gave hands on training to the communities on Shittake mushroom cultivation, He also highlighted that Shittake has a good market, and Yuksam being a tourist hotspot communities will not need to worry for marketing of the same.The main objective of the training was to strengthen the skills of the communities on agro ecology which would in turn support the livelihood of gateway communities of Snow Leopard.
