Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 17: Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Hussan Mir on Tuesday said that Government was making concerted efforts to improve the agriculture sector by introducing several innovative measures to enable farmers to get maximum returns from their land.
This was stated by the Minister while chairing a review meeting convened to assess the status of spots being developed under National Vegetable Initiative for Urban Clusters, a Sub-Scheme of Rashtriya Krishi Yojna to set in motion a virtuous cycle of production and income for the farmers and assured supply to consumers near major urban centres.
The Minister said that the main objective of the scheme was to enhance vegetable production, development of crop specific clusters, availability of good quality vegetable through efficient supply chain leading to improvement in employment avenues, besides meeting the gap of demand and supply through introducing latest technology to improve the productivity.
The Minister said that the Department of Agriculture has identified 15 locations to be developed as urban clusters in Jammu district and five in other districts of Jammu division.
Hailing the constitution of Farmer Produce Organisation in Jammu, Mr. Mir said that by establishing such bodies on the pattern of cooperatives, the farmers not only reduce the cost of productivity but also get enhanced market value of their produce. He said for this purpose the farmers have to be inculcated with the marketing techniques to market their produce thus getting the farmers liberated from the clutches of middle man.
He stressed upon the officers to work objectively by adopting farmers’ friendly approach so that the acceptability of such practices are encouraged, adding that the transfer of new technology in the field should be the thrust area. He impressed upon the department functionaries to popularize low cost technology, such as use of low cost vermicompost among the farmers. He said that the concern of the department is to attract more people especially youth to adopt agriculture as occupation by making it more profitable and secure.
The Director Agriculture Jammu, Ajay Khajuria apprised the Minister about the farmer friendly initiatives taken by the department.
Earlier, Director Projects, Actech Agro, Arvind Pachouri gave a power point presentation on Promotion of Farmer Produce Organization.
The Minister assured that Government will extend full support to the concept of Farmer Produce Organization for benefitting farming community, consumers’ interest and to give boost to economy of the state
Among others, Joint director Extension Dr S S Jamwal, Joint Director Inputs Sushil Sahni, Deputy Director Information Jammu, R S Jamwal, Deputy Directors, Chief Agriculture Officers of concerned districts and other officers of the Department CAOs and senior officers of Agriculture Department attended the meeting.
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