Govt to hire 40 trainers for its urban farming scheme in Delhii

The Delhi government's forest and wildlife department will hire 40 people to conduct workshops on urban farming at the ward level. The workshops will teach locals and resident welfare association members how to grow vegetables or fruit on their roofs or balconies using techniques like hydroponic or container farming. The department plans to conduct 400 workshops beginning in September. Interested applicants should have an undergraduate degree in science and be able to communicate in Hindi and English. The trainers will receive training through a two-day master workshop organized by the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Combating Climate Change.

The Delhi government’s forest and wildlife department will hire 40 people to conduct workshops on urban farming at the ward level, the process for which has begun, officials said on Monday.

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The department will conduct 400 workshops over the next few months, beginning September, each of which will involve at least 25 participants.

The workshops will consist of training locals and members from resident welfare associations (RWA), where they will be taught to grow vegetables or fruit on their roofs or balconies using techniques such as hydroponic, aeroponic, or container farming, officials said.

Applications are open and those interested can apply on https://training.eforest.delhi.gov.in/msby.aspx, a department official said. Those applying are required to have an undergraduate degree in the science stream and should be able to communicate in both Hindi and English, the official added.

The trainers will be first be imparted training themselves through a two-day master workshop which will be organised by the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Combating Climate Change (MGICCC) of the Delhi government. The programme was first announced last month by Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai.

“As the land available for plantation purposes reduces, we will increasingly require more land, and urban farming provides each household with an option to grow crops on their rooftop or balcony. Each workshop will be conducted in batches of 25 to 30 participants, with two workshops to be held simultaneously in each ward, where RWAs will be taught how to grow different vegetables,” Rai had said.

Experts said that growing vegetables on balconies and roofs is easy and requires minimal intervention. “Depending on the area available, one can opt for the type of vegetable they wish to grow. Leafy vegetables are the easiest and one can easily grow tomatoes, brinjals or chillis as they are hardy plants,” GV Ramanjaneyulu, executive director at the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture in Hyderabad, said.