In a bid to aware the fruit growers about the latest inventions and achievements in the field of horticulture and to inform them about various schemes, Department of Horticulture, Kashmir today organized a State-level Growers Meet, here at SKICC.The conference was attended by around 400 growers from various districts of the Kashmir valley, besides the entrepreneurs, processing unit owners, specialists in Horticulture Development and other concerned.Speaking on the occasion, Advisor to Governor, Khurshid Ahmed Ganai lauded the efforts of the growers for uplifting the horticulture sector in Kashmir. It is because of these growers that the horticulture production has increased over the years, he said.“We feel proud in saying that the 70% of the total apple production and 90% of dry fruit production in the country comes from J&K,” Advisor Ganai said adding, we are producing around 24 lakh metric tons of Apple alone.He said the Horticulture sector has become an important sector over the time, which cannot be ignored by the government at any cost. “Horticulture sector has been of great economic benefit at the time when Kashmir witnessed the unfavorable situation in 1990s,” he said.In order to take the horticulture production to the next level, Advisor Ganai said that we will propagate the high-density plantation in the valley.
He said that there has been experimentation on high density plantation at the small level but now it will be propagated at the wider level which will help in the production boom.While asking the growers to take full advantage of the various centrally and State sponsored schemes to uplift their socioeconomic status, Advisor Ganai asked the officials of Horticulture Department to give the wide publicity of these schemes and create awareness among the growers.The daylong conference witnessed the lectures from various experts from horticulture sector and interaction with growers and awareness about various innovations and achievements in the field of horticulture.On the occasion, Advisor Ganai also released ‘Horticulture Census of fruit trees 2017’ which was published by Horticulture department.Earlier, he also inaugurated an exhibition of various horticulture products, chemicals and the latest equipment used in the sector.Secretary Agriculture Production Department J&K, Manzoor Ahmad Lone, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Dr Syed Abid Rashid Shah, Director Horticulture, Kashmir, Manzoor Ahmed Qadri, Director Agriculture, Kashmir, Aijaz Altaf Andrabi, Director Floriculture, Kashmir, MathooraMasoom, Director Command Area Kashmir, Mohammad Haroon Malik, Dr Desh Beer Singh Director CITH, Prof. Mushtaq Ahmad Director Extension, SKUAST, officials from Horticulture Department and other concerned officials also attended the conference.