SHIMLA: The apple growers talked about their experiences in a meeting with scientists under the Natural Farming Khushhal Kisan Yojana during the one-day workshop held in Mashobra.
It was held to encourage natural farming among apple growers. The workshop was organized by the Agriculture Department's Atma Shimla team.
During the workshop, horticulturist Dr. Usha Sharma shared information about how to grow better apples using natural farming methods.
She has been studying this for four years and has seen good results.
Dr. Usha said that using natural farming has helped improve soil quality, increase friendly insects, reduce diseases, and improve yields.
Dr. Manoj Gupta, an agricultural economist, talked about studies done on natural farming by different organizations. He also talked about new certification programs for natural farming.
At the workshop, farmers like Tilak Raj shared their experiences. Tilak has been doing natural farming for five years and has seen good results.
He said that getting certified has helped him sell his apples and plums at better prices.
Dr. Devi Chand Kashyap, who organized the workshop, said its main goal was to teach farmers about natural farming research and clear up any confusion.
Over 130 apple growers from different parts of Shimla district attended the workshop.
