Director Agriculture Kashmir Syed Altaf Aijaz Andrabi today chaired a meeting of experts, Chief Agriculture Officers of the concerned districts and other concerned officers to explore the various modalities for devising a strategy to face the challenges confronting different agriculture activities.Speaking on the occasion Director Agriculture called upon the participants to take present climatic scenario as a challenge and try all the efforts to coup up with the present situation so that farmers’ interests can be served and safeguarded.He said since Kashmir is facing a different and tough situation viz a viz scarcity of water and other contributing factors, therefore department has to mobilize its entire workforce so that technical and moral support is made available to the farming community at this crucial stage.Director Agriculture informed that the department is already preparing an alternate plan and devising a mitigation strategy where drought mitigation technology, use of new farming practices that require less water, are taken into consideration to reduce the impact of the dry winter season.
He said that the department has already adopted some crop specific and commodity specific villages for the promotion of certain agri-products so that farmers income can be improved.Andrabi said that the department has prepared a roadmap for the promotion and marketing of certain Kashmir specific crops on the national and international level so that the farmers involved with their cultivation could fetch a good price of their produce.He highlighted the importance and contribution of women in the agriculture sector and their role in rural economy. He directed the concerned officers for the constitution of the target number of women self-help groups within the stipulated time so that the assignments designed for such groups could be implemented.Joint Director Agriculture Extension, Joint director Agri Inputs, Joint Director Engineering, Project Coordinator Mushrooms, Deputy Director Central Amir-ud-Din Andrabi, Chief Agriculture Officers of all the Districts of Kashmir division, Law enforcement officers were also present in the meeting.