Barabanki (Uttar Pradesh), Jan 4 (IANS): The first crop of strawberries cultivated by inmates of the Barabanki jail will be ready this month.

The strawberries will be distributed in the market and the money earned will be given for development and maintenance of the jail.

Barabanki jail authorities, along with an NGO, have taught convicts the art of cultivating strawberries in a bid to bring them into the mainstream.

The Barabanki jail authorities said that the skills they pick up could prove handy for them after their release. The jail currently has 240 convicts.

Senior jail superintendent, P.P. Singh said that in the first phase, 30 convicts who have almost completed their sentence and will be released next year have been taught the cultivation skills. The training of the next batch comprising 100 convicts has begun.

"Not just cultivation, but packaging and marketing has also been taught to convicts so that they are able to eke out a living once they are out of prison," said Singh.

The officer said that initiative was taken on the directions of the state government under the skill development mission scheme.

"We roped in an NGO from Shimla, which provided training and saplings of strawberries," he said.

The officer said that two months training was provided to the convicts from November and by January the strawberries will ripen in one bigha land area.

The officer said that compost is prepared by the material from the 'gaushala' in the jail. The NGO also provided training for preparing the correct mixture of compost.