Stressing the need for adapting to the changing climate, Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura today directed the concerned officers of the Agriculture Department and its allied wings to gear up their field functionaries and work in unison for effective on ground implementation of centrally sponsored and state sector climate resilient schemes.The Minister gave these directions while chairing the third meeting of Steering Committee on Climate Change to review the progress achieved in J&K with regard to the implementation of project namely ‘Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture in Rain-Fed areas of Jammu and Kashmir'.Pertinently, the project is under implementation in the water stressed in rain shadow areas of Bhalwal block of Jammu district and Budgam block of Budgam district through Agriculture Production Department as an executing entity.The meeting was attended by Vice Chancellor, SKUAST (J), Principal Secretary APD, Secretary APD, Director Agriculture Kashmir, Director Agriculture Jammu, Project coordinator NAFCC, representative of ICAR, Director planning APD, Director finance APD and other senior officers of the department.
During the meeting, a detailed discussion was held on issues related to climate change confronting the State of J&K.The Minister said that to tackle water scarcity as a result of climate change, the projects would provide water and other irrigational facilities to farm lands in hilly parched areas of the state and will minimize adverse effects of climate change.The Minister directed APD to utilize the funds on the already sanctioned project of Agriculture on Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture in Kandi areas of J&K. The project is sanctioned for an amount of Rs 22.15 crore.The Minister was informed that the proposed action plan for 2018-19 is Rs 14.28 cr and out of which, Rs 7.30 cr have been spent in Budgam block and Rs 6.98 cr have been spent on Bhalwal block. Hanjura gave directions for taking effective steps so that quantifiable mitigation measures are placed to counter negative impact on climate change on existing crop cycle.The Minister directed the officers to maintain close co-ordination among the department for effective implementation of the schemes. He asked officers to extend the Climate Resilient projects to vulnerable zones to benefit the farmers largely.