Reiterating the government’s commitment to double farmers’ income by 2022, Minister for Industries and Commerce Chander Parkash Ganga said the farmers are being encouraged to use all modern methods and steps are being taken to ensure that farmers get best possible facilities, be it seeds or fertilizers. The Minister was speaking during a special outreach programme on agriculture related schemes initiated by centre and state government. The programme was organized by Directorate of Field Publicity, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India (JK Region) at Jatwal in Samba.Addressing the gathering, the Minister said that identifying the strength of soil is the first step towards increasing its fertility. “The government has initiated many steps to educate the farmers about modern techniques in farming to increase the farm production which will ultimately lead to doubling their income” he added.
He further said the government has introduced Soil Health Card to help farmers ascertain their soil nutrient content. The government has also launched several schemes like Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana, Soil Health Card scheme, neem-coated urea and electronic national agriculture market (e-NAM) to achieve the target of doubling farmers’ income.The Minister asserted that there is a need to conserve water, incentivize agro-processing and promote balanced use of fertilizers in order to ensure higher agriculture productivity. There is need for better storage and marketing facilities for the farmers' produce so that they get better prices, he added.Additional Director General, DFP, MO I&B R.P Saroj, Chief Agriculture Officer Samba, Narinder Mishra, Vice Chairman JK Advisory Board for OBC Rashpal Verma, MLA Hiranagar Kuldeep Raj, Publicity Officer , DFP, MO I&B Gulshan Raina, SDM Ghagwal Narayan Dutt, ADC Samba Tilak Raj and a large number of farmers were present on the occasion.