Principal Secretary, Agriculture Production Department, Sundeep Nayak today chaired a meeting to review the mushroom and apiculture projects and development activities in Jammu division.The Principal Secretary gave specific instructions to the officers of the department to utilize the best available technology in the production of mushrooms and good quality honey in the Jammu region. He stressed on the area identification of potential beneficiaries in the proposed Jammu- Samba- Kathua Mushroom Corridor to significantly boost and upscale the production in the area to commercial level in the next three years with focus on skill development, technical and infrastructural support to the mushroom growers.He impressed upon the Chief Agriculture Officers and concerned Sectoral Officers to work with a focused approach to promote quality production, Post Harvest Management, quality control. He directed them to create special brands of honey and mushroom to yield added economic returns to the farmers through better marketing strategy.
He asked the officers to register the beekeepers as per guidelines of National Bee Board (NBB) with aadhar linkage.The Principal Secretary also met with the deputations of various organizations of the employees.Earlier, the Director Agriculture Jammu H. K. Razdan gave a detailed power point presentation regarding various action plans and schemes on mushroom growing and bee-keeping. He said that Jammu- Samba- Kathua has been selected as Mushroom Corridor because of the abundance of raw material like wheat bhusa and to make use of marketing potential in these districts.Dr. Meenakshi Chargotra, VAEA, gave presentation on the Women Self Help Groups actively involved in the various agri-based activities including Mushroom Growing, Vegetable Cultivation, Jam & Jelly Making etc. in the Bishnah area of the Jammu District.Others present at the meeting were S. S. Lakhanpuria, Joint Director of Agriculture (Extension), K. S. Sambyal, Joint Director of Agriculture (Inputs), Bulesh Zutshi, Joint Director SLUB, Chief Agriculture Officers, Deputy Directors and other senior officers of the department.