Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 7: Principal Secretary, Animal & Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries Department, Navin Kumar Choudhary today chaired a meeting of senior officers of various departments to review their functioning.
Director Agriculture Jammu and Kashmir, Inderjeet and Altaf Andrabi; Directors Command Jammu and Kashmir, Smita Sethi and Tasaduq Hussain; MD JK Agro Industries and Development Corporation, Bhawani Rakwal, Directors Horticulture Jammu and Kashmir, Ram Sewak and Ajaz Ahmed; Directors Animal and Sheep Husbandry of both the divisions, Vivek Sharma, Purnima Mittal, Abdul Salam and Sanjeev Kumar; Director Fisheries J&K, M Amin and Additional Secretary Animal and Sheep Husbandry, Latief Choudhary attended the meeting. Officers from Kashmir Division attended the meeting through video conferencing.
While addressing the meeting, the Principal Secretary said that agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy and issues faced by farmers need to be looked into and resolved on priority basis. He directed the concerned authorities to coordinate with each other to achieve the goals of their departments and to take necessary steps for doubling the income of farmers.
The Principal Secretary also directed for uploading a detailed list of beneficiary farmers who have benefitted under various centrally sponsored schemes of various departments. He also stressed upon them to ensure that equal benefit is provided to farmers of both the divisions of Jammu and Kashmir.
The issues related to availability of fertilisers, pesticides and seed distribution were also discussed in the meeting. It was informed that amount of pesticides available in both the divisions is sufficient to meet the requirements of farmers.
Navin Choudhary directed HoDs of Sheep Husbandry of both the divisions to ensure proper advisories to poultry shops and also ensure maintenance of social distancing at these places.
He also stressed on concerned officers to boost organic farming in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that organic farming in specific crops particular to every district should be encouraged. He also directed HoDs to undertake field visits so as to know the ground level situation of the farmers.