Director Agriculture Kashmir, Syed Altaf Aijaz Andrabi convened a meeting of senior officers of the department here today to review the progress achieved on the implementation of commitments and decisions made by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti during her recent public meetings (Durbars) in different districts of Kashmir Division, related to the sector.Speaking on the occasion, Director Agriculture impressed upon the officers of the department to mobilise their workforce on mission mode, so that all the decisions and commitments made by CM can be met within an effective manner and within the stipulated time.The Director said amid global climate change and its impact on Valley, the Agriculture sector has to be modified, adding every agri-intervention should be in consonance with climate change and agro-climatic suitability. He directed the officers to prepare a contingency plan to combat the upcoming challenges.Andrabi called upon the officers to ensure the feedback is received from ground level about the impact of technologies and expertise provided by the department to the farmers. He said if any weaknesses or bottlenecks are found they should immediately be taken care off.
He said that the achievements and milestones reached in this direction should be recorded and reported for analyses so that new dimensions can be added to it.He asked the officers to prepare detailed project reports (DPRs) for the restoration and up-gradation of different departmental facilities including Soil Testing Labs, Seed Testing Labs, and Pathology Labs in Kashmir Division. He said latest equipment should be installed in these labs so that most accurate and real-time results can be obtained.Earlier, Director was informed that almost 100 percent expenditure has been achieved under different centrally sponsored schemes (CSS).Joint Director, Agriculture Extension, Abdul Rahim Samoon; Joint Director, Agriculture Inputs, Sajad Ahmad Shah; Joint Director, Agriculture Engineering, Javed Iqbal Lone; Deputy Director, Agriculture Central G.M. Bichu; Chief Agriculture Officers of all the districts of Kashmir Division and other senior officers of the department attended the meeting.