ASCI collaborates with Haryana Horticulture Department for skill development

Agriculture Skill Council of India (ASCI) has embarked on many initiatives in skill development through industry-relevant training. ASCI has collaborated with many state governments to help them realize their goals in skilling for better wages and sustained livelihoods. As part of capacity building under Skill India programme of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), the Haryana government has come up with new initiatives.

The Haryana Horticulture Department (HHD) and Agriculture Skill Council of India (ASCI) have come together to sign a MoU to upgrade the skills with a mission to enhance the income of farmers engaged in area of Horticulture. The MoU was exchanged by Dr Satender Arya, CEO ASCI and Dr. Abhilaksh Likhi. Principal Secretary Agriculture, Government of Haryana, in the presence of Shri Kanwar Pal , Hon’ble Speaker,  Haryana Vidhan Sabha and Shri Om Parkash Dankhar, Hon’ble Agriculture minister of Haryana. The exchange of MoU took place during 2nd Agri-Leadership Summit at Surajkund on 19 Mar 2017.

The following centres of training/ centre of excellence of Haryana Horticulture Department (HHD) will be nodal centres of training / RPL programmes in their area of responsibility: –

•  Horticulture Training Institute, Uchani (Karnal) (HTI).
• Centre of Excellence for Fruits, Mangiana, Sirsa (CEF)
• Guava Demonstration Centre, Bhuna, Fathebad (GDC)
•  Integrated Bee Keeping Development Centre, Ram Nagar, Kurukshetra. (IBDC)
• Centre of Excellence for Vegetable & Hi-tech Floriculture Project, Gharounda (CEV)
• Centre for Sub-Tropical Fruits, Ladwa, Kurukshetra.(CSTF)
• Food Technology centre at Kurukshetra , Jind and Sirsa
• High Tech Green House at Gurugram and Rothak

Being Centre of Excellence (CoE), these are the ideal locations for Train the Trainer ( TOT) programmes for all job roles pertaining to Production Horticulture. These type of training programmes will be useful in attracting youth towards remunerative vocations in the area of fruits and vegetables. On this occasion, Dr Satender Arya also described the challenges of skilling in Horticulture and related agriculture fields. He spoke about various steps being taken jointly with HHD in terms of development of TOT programs and RPL training in all centres of HHD.