Maintaining that Government has given emphasis to the Agriculture and allied sectors, Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura said that several centrally and State Sector Schemes have been introduced in the State to increase agriculture production.Winding up the discussions on demand of grants for the Agriculture and allied Departments, Mr. Hanjura said that “we are not only deficient in food production but also severely handicapped in fodder production. Given the allocation of funds in the budget proposals, only limited objectives and outcomes can be achieved’’.He said that several schemes including Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), National Mission on Agriculture Extension and Technology, National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Kissan Credit Card (KCC), Integrated Scheme for Development of Sericulture Industry (ISDSI) and Catalytic Development Programme for Sericulture have been introduced to improve the lot of farming community.The Minister said that major thrust of the Department would be on timely and efficient utilization of funds, which mostly come through the Centrally Sponsored Schemes. He said that there would be focus on revival of Agro Industries sector by giving boost to vegetable, Mushroom, Apiculture and protected cultivation through innovative measures such as micro irrigation, use of better farm machinery and promotion of farm entrepreneurship through various facilitation means and technology intervention. Mr. Hanjura said that special care would be taken for the rain fed and cold desert areas. “The Government would aim at strengthening of irrigation infrastructure while taking full benefit of Centrally Sponsored Schemes”, he added.The Minister said that the Government is focused on re-orienting NABARD funding system towards Agriculture and would access other bilateral and multi-lateral funding mechanisms through Government of India.
Mr. Hanjura said that steps have been taken for the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana from this year.
The Minister said that shrinking of agriculture land by construction of housing colonies, new universities, medical institutions and colleges, four lane of National Highway etc should have given a set back to the agricultural sector but despite low acreage under agricultural activities the production is showing a steady growth. It is mostly attributable to the efforts of farmers in the fields and to the Government’s efforts, he added.The Minister said that specific initiatives have been taken for Development of Basmati Village, Development of Mushkbudji Village, Development of Saffron Village, waiver off of 50% KCC loan to the poor and vulnerable group of farmers having loan limit upto Rs. 1.00 lac.Mr. Hanjura said that Saffron Mission has been launched for rejuvenation of Saffron cultivation in the State as the productivity per hectare had started declining. But during the course of Saffron Mission at Mid-term, the production per hectare has increased from 1.89 Kgs/hectare to 4.5 Kgs/hectare. It is expected that this year after installing sprinkler irrigation at 60 places the production may touch up-to 10Kgs/hectare. Samboora village is being developed as a Model Saffron Village, he added.
Mr. Hanjura further said that Traditional Basmati rice of R.S. Pura, Jammu and Rajmash of Bhaderwah, Kishtwar, Bani and other temperate areas are gaining economic significance through various Departmental interventions in quality improvement, productivity enhancement, marketing etc. A Model Basmati Village in Suchetgarh area of Jammu District has been launched and a Model Mushkbudji Rice Village has also been launched, he said.Regarding the Sericulture sector, the Minister said that efforts are on to increase cocoon production. He said that cocoon production in 2008-09 was just 738 MTs which has now crossed 1000 MTs and is expected to increase further. Our focus is on post-cocoon sector to establish reeling units for local consumption and production of silk yarn, he added.Mr. Hanjura said during the last two years SKUAST-K has released many high yielding varieties of field crops viz., 02 Shalimar Rice varieties, 07 varieties of Maize, 01 variety of Wheat, 01 variety of Oats and 03 varieties of pulses.The Minister said that SKUAST-Jammu has released many high yielding varieties of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables etc. viz. Rice Basmati-564 (RR564), Sanwal Basmati (IET15815), Gobhisarson – DGS-1, Toria RSPT-1, Chickpea SCS-3.Later, the House passed grants of Agriculture, Horticulture, Floriculture and Cooperative Departments, for the year 2016-17, which were moved by the Minister, amounting to Rs 1959.88 crore with voice vote.The members who took part in the discussion on demand of grants include Ch. Sukhnanadan Kumar, Syed Altaf Ahmad Bukhari, Sheikh Ishfaq Jabar, Aijaz Ahmed Khan, M.Y. Tarigami, Hakeem Mohammad Yasin, Shakti Singh Parihar, Mohammad Khalil Bandh, Abdul Majid Larmi, Er. Abdul Rashid, Gulzar Ahmad Wani, Mohammad Altaf Wani, Gagan Bhagat, Bashir Ahmed Dar, Abdul Majid Paddar, Vikar Rasool Wani, Dilip Singh Parihar, Ch. Qamar Hussain, Mian Altaf Ahmed, Asgar Ali Karbalie, Pawan Gupta, Neelam Kumar Langai, Aga Syed Ruhulla Mehdi, Dalden Namgial, Mohammad Akbar Lone, Yawar Ahmad Mir, Ravinder Raina, G. M. Saroori, Raja Manzoor Ahmed and Usman Abdul Majid.