Director Agriculture Kashmir, Altaf Aijaz Andrabi, Friday convened a meeting of officers of National Mission on Saffron (NMS) to review the progress of the programme.The 400.11 crore rupees Saffron project is in the final stage of completion, which covers various components to increase the productivity of saffron.The meeting was informed that out of the total of 3715 hectare area under saffron, about 2218 hectare area has been rejuvenated so far whereas the remaining 1597 hectare area is targeted for rejuvenation for the 2017-18 financial year.The Director impressed upon the officers to start the process of registration for rejuvenation and make efforts on ground level so that hundred percent of the targeted area is covered.
He also called for the revival of sick compost units and completion of sprinkler irrigation system within their stipulated time-frames.He also asked the officers to make arrangements of inputs for the availability of corms, chemical fertilizers and fungicides at the earliest besides directing for deployment of 50 VAEAs with NMS and fixing targets at the circle level.Instructions were also issued for seeking proposal for irrigation in uncovered areas of Budgam district by way of water harvest tanks and other sources.Chief Agriculture Officer, district and sub-divisional agriculture officers and other concerned officials of Pulwama, Budgam and Srinagar districts were present in the meeting.