Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 1: The foundation stone for the ‘Farmers Training Centre’, first of its kind in Jammu region, was laid by the Principal Secretary to Govt, Department of Horticulture, Agriculture Production & Farmers Welfare, Navin Kumar Choudhary the other day at Maralian, in RS Pura.
Additional Secretary to Govt Horticulture Department, Jahangir Hashmi, Director Horticulture Jammu Ram Sevak, Director Agriculture Kashmir Iqbal Choudhary, Director Agriculture Jammu KK Sharma, Joint Director Horticulture Jammu, CL Sharma and many PRI members/ farmers were also present on the occasion.
While speaking on the occasion, Navin Choudhary said that this training centre is ‘first of its kind’ in Jammu Division for imparting training to the farmers and other stake holders by providing valuable knowledge and skill for commercial cultivation of sub-tropical fruit crops. This centre is going to be developed at a cost of Rs 98 lakhs and it shall be completed by ending March 2022.
He urged the farmers to go for cultivation of off season crops in poly houses, provided by the department on subsidized rates, so that they get good price of their produce. In addition to this, process for formation of FPO should be initiated, so that after 2-3 years, the farmers can get good returns after proper value addition of their produce. He also assured that GI tagging in respect of various crops, especially Rice shall be completed by the end of this year.
Earlier, Director Horticulture Ram Sevak, apprised the gathering about the progress as well as achievements being made in respect of different schemes of the department. He informed the farmers about the incentives available under various centrally and UT sponsored schemes of the department and urged them to come forward and avail the benefits on different components.
Director Agriculture Jammu, KK Sharma educated the farmers of the area about the incentives being available under different schemes of the department and asked them to go for diversification of crops in their fields. He said Horticulture sector in J&K has upgraded in production and we have to train our farmers so that they can compete with our neighboring states like Punjab and Haryana.
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