A one day Consultative Forum Members Meeting under CABI’s Plant wise Programme was jointly organized by Department of Agriculture, and Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International (CABI), South Asia.Speaking at the inaugural session, Director Agriculture, Hari Krishan Razdan, said that there is a need for constant monitoring of ongoing Plant Clinics for effective mitigation of plant insect pests and diseases problems.He further impressed upon training of Plant Doctors to update knowledge about various aspects of the pest data management alongwith training for second line of Plant Doctors to enhance their skills on handling and managing data which shall be very useful to forecast the pest incidence and take preventive measures to advise the farmers.During the programme, the achievements of year 2017 that included establishment of 16 Plant Clinics in three districts Jammu, Kathua and Samba of Jammu and Kashmir State were highlighted. These clinics, backed with Tablets and USB Microscopes to operate under ICT system for quick and readily available advisory platform are linked to a system known as “Plantwise Online Management System” (POMS), a platform for complete database of plant pest and diseases was showcased during the meeting.
It was mentioned that direct advisory service on plant Pest and diseases was recorded for about 1000 farmers through trained plant Doctors of plant clinics.The programme also saw brainstorming on activity plan -2018 that may include new interventions like data validation, data in use and monitoring & evaluation with international expertise through CABI. It was also decided that the scheme will be extended to Udhampur and Rajouri districts.Earlier while presenting the preview of PLANTWISE planning Programme Leader, CABI, South Asia Dr Vinod Pandit, said that Directorate of Agriculture Jammu and Centre for Agricultural Biosciences International (CABI) have signed an agreement in 2016 and since then are working towards establishment and quality management of Advisory System through Plant Clinics.The programme was attended by Joint Director Agriculture (Inputs), K. S. Sambyal, Joint Director SLUB, Bulesh Zutshi, Joint Director Agriculture (Extension), R. L. Bhagat, Deputy Director of Agriculture (Central), C. M. Sharma, Deputy Director Agriculture (Trainings), Sunil Koul, Agriculture Chemist R. K. Bindroo, Chief Agriculture Officer, Naresh Dubey, Dr Vishal Gupta and Dr Kamlesh Bali Scientists from SKUAST-J and other District Level Officers and Officers of Plant Clinics