The Minister for Agriculture Production Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura today said that Government is contemplating to set up 3 new Soil Testing Labs in Jammu province for the convenience of the farmers.He said the soil testing labs have been proposed for Samba, Lakhanpur and Udhampur adding a proposal of Rs 50 lakh has already been submitted for upgrading the only existing lab in the province.The Minister was speaking at a joint meeting of official and representatives of pesticides manufacturing units of Jammu division.“With these provisions in place, the facility available for soil testing in Jammu will be at par with any establishment existing in other states. This move will assist in reducing the time lag caused by delay in delivery of reports for samples sent to other states for testing” Hanjura added. The Minister issued strict directions to the department to cancel the licences of dealers and manufacturer found supplying substandard and spurious pesticides in the states.He asked the manufacturers to ensure strict adherence to quality norms, standards and warned them that there would be no compromise on the interest of farmers.
The Minister urged the companies to look out for the interest of the farmers alongside their own for achieving equitable development across the region.In this first of its kind interaction, pesticides manufacturers operating in Jammu were able to directly present their issues and concerns to the government and department representatives.Director Agriculture Jammu Ashok Kumar Malhotra, Director Law Enforcement J&K Sushil Sahni, Deputy Director Agriculture (Central) C.M. Sharma, Agriculture Chemist Anil Nargotra, Plant Protection Officer Bulesh Zutshi, other officers along with representatives of pesticides manufacturing units of Jammu division were present for the meeting.Later, the Minister inspected State Pesticide Testing Laboratory, Soil Testing Laboratory and Fertilizer Quality Control Laboratory at the agriculture complex Talab Tillo.Director Agriculture and Agriculture Chemist, Jammu briefed the working of State Pesticide Lab and discussed about the capacity enhancement of the State Pesticide Testing Laboratory (SPTL) to ensure the availability of the quality Plant Protection Chemicals to the farmers.
Director Agriculture added that the Soil Testing Lab Jammu is working in two shifts to achieve the targets under Soil Health Card Scheme and to ensure timely disposal of Soil Health Cards to the farmers.The Minister also inaugurated a Training Lab (computer lab) at Joint Directorate of Agriculture Extension, commissioned under the National E-Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGP-A).NeGP-A is a mission mode project introduced to achieve the rapid development of agriculture in India through the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT).Training Centre will target at capacity building of officers and officials in ICT and various computer applications. Training centre will also be used for uploading of Soil Health Cards, along with uploading data of various centrally sponsored schemes.Hanjura also visited various Pesticide Manufacturing Units at Bari Brahmana, Jammu.The Minister asked the unit owners to produce standard quality Insecticides, Fungicides, Weedicides and Herbicides and install pollution control systems as required under law in the interest of farming community and development of the State.