Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura today said that Agriculture Department will identify the villages to be developed as model villages where only one type of agricultural practice will be carried out. “There will be a separate village for mushroom cultivation, beekeeping, vegetable cultivation and these villages will be developed as model villages and government will provide support and subsidy for this practice,” he said.The Minister was speaking as Chief Guest during a day-long Convention of Agriculture Extension Assistants organized by Jammu and Kashmir Agriculture Technocrats United Forum (JKATUF) at SKICC.The function was attended by Secretary Agriculture, Showkat Ahmad Beigh, Director Agriculture (Kashmir), Syed Altaf Aijaz Andrabi, Director Agriculture (Jammu), HK Razdan, Chief Agriculture Officers of various districts, Agriculture Extension Assistants and other concerned officials of the department.On the occasion, the representatives of JKATUF put forward various demands before the Minister including the inclusion of ReZ services as regular services, Old pension benefits of AEAs with effect from April 2017 and removal of pay anomaly of AEAs at par with JAEOs.
While calling the employees of the Agriculture Department as his own family members, Hanjura said, “It is my duty to resolve the genuine demands and issues as the head of the Agriculture Department.”Regarding these issues, Hanjura said, a committee has already been formed to look into these demands and the report has been submitted by the Committee. “We will go through the report and will look into what steps can be taken for the welfare of the department,” he said.He also praised the work of Agriculture Extension Assistants for reaching out to the farmers for the implementation of various schemes on ground level.The Minister said that there is a need to work together to overcome the challenges faced by Agriculture department. He said that the welfare of farmers is the main goal of Agriculture Department and the Department needs to work with letter and spirit to implement this goal.On the occasion Director Agriculture (Jammu) and Director Agriculture (Kashmir) spoke about the various developmental programmes of the department and the implementation of various schemes on the ground.