The Association of People with Disability (APD) is hosting an annual horticulture fair at their Kothanur centre, featuring 336 varieties of organic plants for sale.
The sales and customer interaction are managed by 35 persons with disabilities trained under the APD’s horticulture livelihood programme.
Through the programme, APD conducts three-month horticulture training courses for batches of 35 disabled persons at a time. A total of 185 people are trained every year.
The fair showcases 250 varieties of ornamental plants, along with 86 types of medicinal and aromatic plants, including 10 new varieties. Nearly 90,000 plants have been prepared for the fair. A three-hour horticulture workshop will also be held for the public over the weekends.
Inaugurated on Friday, the fair will be held till February 19 and its proceeds will fund the APD’s horticulture programme. It will also help in the recruitment of trainees, said APD’s senior manager Yashodha Patil.
“Most disabled people are school dropouts. Horticulture training helps them because the job doesn’t require educational qualifications, and the demand is high in the workforce,” Yashodha said.
Mahadevaswamy K, 38, a trainee at the programme with locomotor disability hailing from Chamarajanagar district, said he could not get a job but is hopeful of getting hired. Salaries for the trainees will be close to Rs 20,000 depending on skills.
Inaugurating the fair, Flipkart CEO Nipun Sharma said his company will hire APD trainees.
Gurumoorthy Mathrubootham of Juniper Networks said his company is buying fruit trees from the fair for its greening initiatives in Hosur.