Srinagar, April 6: Principal Secretary, Agriculture Production & Farmers Welfare and Horticulture Departments, Navin Kumar Choudhary today held a Kisan Samellan cum Interactive meeting with newly appointed Kashmir based members of J&K Advisory Board for Development of Kisans (ABFDK) at Agriculture Complex, Lal Mandi here.
The meeting was attended by Vice Chancellor SKUAST-K, Prof. Nazir Ahmad Ganie; Secretary J&K ABFDK, Abdul Hamid Wani; Director General Horticulture Kashmir, Directors of different departments of Kashmir division like Agriculture, Industries and Commerce, Sericulture, Sheep Husbandry, Floriculture, Fisheries and others, besides newly appointed members of the J&K ABFDK of Kashmir Division.
During the Samellan cum Interactive meet, a detailed feedback was received from the board members at ground level about the schemes and policies of government which are at different stages of implementation. The meeting also held deliberations on the problems and issues being faced in implementation of different schemes and initiatives for the development of Agriculture and allied sectors.
Chairing the interactive meet, the Principal Secretary, who is also the Vice Chairman of the advisory board asked the progressive farmers to reap out maximum benefits from different schemes implemented by various departments here. He suggested them to explore possibilities in other sectors like floriculture and dairy farming rather than traditional sectors like Agriculture and horticulture for establishing there business units.
The Principal Secretary asked the directors of agriculture and floriculture to find out possibilities for extending the PARVAAZ scheme for the transportation of floriculture produce to outside markets. He also directed the MD JKHPMC to explore possibilities for establishing common service centre for marketing and transportation of floriculture produce.
While interacting with the Board members, Principal Secretary remarked that the department is working ambitiously towards facilitating and boosting the agriculture sector here. He added that in recent months the government has initiated several steps for development of agriculture and allied sectors here.
Navin Choudhary highlighted that the recent collaboration of J&K Government with New Zealand will immensely help in development of Sheep Husbandry sector here. He added that we are also exploring possibilities of collaboration of agriculture universities of J&K with those in New Zealand for improving agriculture research and allied activities besides student exchange.
Asking the board members to look beyond traditional sectors like agriculture and horticulture for establishing business units, the Principal Secretary emphasised upon the board members that they should take concrete steps for creating awareness among the farming community for exploring other sectors like dairy farming, trout fish farming and others. He highlighted that the Trout fish farming sector has a potential to become as big as horticulture sector and steps must be taken to tap that potential.
The Principal Secretary further emphasised that the sectors like poultry, sheep rearing, and others have ample scope for improvement and they should be developed in a way so that the import of products of these sectors can be reduced here.
The board members, hailing from different districts of Kashmir valley , while interacting with the Principal Secretary raised several issues and concerns faced by the farming community with him. They also shared their experiences on development of agriculture and also gave valid suggestions for boosting this sector here.
The Principal Secretary appreciated the board members for their valuable comments and ideas on development of agriculture sector across J&K and assured them that the department will provide all possible handholding to the farming community.
Pertinently this Kisan Samellan cum Interactive meeting was held with an aim to have a direct interaction of officers of Agriculture and allied sectors with the Board members of Kashmir Division and also to receive feedback from them about the schemes and policies of the Government, besides to discuss the ground position of Agriculture Scenario of Kashmir Division for better prospective planning.
