Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah Wednesday underscored the importance of quality seeds to raise per hectare yield and give fillip to agriculture production. He added that better seeds buttress both productivity and production resulting in economic upliftment of farmers.
Inspecting Seed Multiplication Farm, Chinore about 25 kilometres from here situated along International Border, the Chief Minister said that adequate production of breeder, foundation and certified seeds are significantly important to improve and upgrade cultivation of different varieties of cereals, vegetables, oilseeds etc.The Chief Minister said that utilization of modern agricultural practices and new technology is need of the hour and farmers across the State should be made aware of this importance besides making them quality seeds, planting material and fertilizers available easily.
The Chief Minister said that horticulture and agriculture are strong sectors of economy in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that a large population of the State earns their livelihood from these sectors, as such, these require focused attention for growth and development. He said that his government has made agriculture sector almost tax free besides initiating various measures to ameliorate the lot of farmers and catapult the State’s agro-economy.Highlighting the importance of Seed Multiplication Farms, Omar Abdullah emphasized the need for further upgrading and strengthening the existing seed farms in the State besides encouraging educated youth towards this sector so that they earn their livelihood and help the agriculture sector to grow.Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Hassan Mir, Minister for Planning and Development, Ajay Sadhotra, and Minister of State for Agriculture, Nazir Ahmad Gurezi were accompanying the Chief Minister during his visit Chinore Farm.
The Chief Minister was given details of the functioning of the farm and the status of seed multiplication of foundation and certified seeds of various cereal varieties.Seed Multiplication Farm, Chinore is the largest Seed Multiplication Farm in Jammu pision. It is situated along the International Border about 25 kilometres from Jammu and is spread over an area of 2586 acres of stretches over a length of 15 kilometres from North to South. The strip is bound by river Chenab Creak on the Eastern side and Pakistan in the Western side.The main objectives of the farm multiply breeder and foundation category seed into next generation. This farm has also undertaken multiplication of Wheat Shalimar-1 and Oats Sabzar for Kashmir Valley. It produced quality, viable, robust, disease free seed of Cereals, Oilseeds, Pulses, Vegetables and Fodder. The Paddy Jaya produced at the Farm was exported to Karnataka for seed purposes. The farm adopted latest state of the art machinery and techniques for seed multiplication and demonstrate new varieties and technology for faster dissemination among farmers. The farm is continuously running in operational profits for the last two years.To further improve the working condition and profitability at the farm some projects including drilling, development and commissioning of 25 numbers irrigation tube-wells, construction of road from Lalyal Culvert to Baba Changi, strengthening of multiplication farm Chinore and rain gun irrigation have been formulated and submitted to the Government for funding under NABARD and relevant schemes.