Principal Secretary, Animal and Sheep Husbandry, Fisheries and Transport Departments, Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon, today visited the Poultry Demonstration Centre Vijaypur Samba and distributed poultry birds among the beneficiaries there.The Principal Secretary also provided the beneficiaries with equipment and feed required for rearing the birds under National Livelihood Mission (NLM) wherein 35 beneficiaries belonging to different blocks of district Samba were covered under the scheme.Dr Samoon said the step will generate self-employment along rural farmers which will be beneficial for their livelihood as they can adopt poultry farming as a profit-earning profession.On the occasion, he also enquired about the working of Poultry Demonstration Centre and asked the concerned officers to provide technical guidance and other possible help to the farmers.Dr Samoon urged unemployed youths of the state to take poultry and dairy farming as a career which he said has immense potential. He also said that the poultry sector has a vast scope of income generation and can provide livelihood to a large number of beneficiaries.He also urged the youth to come forward to set up their own startups under various centrally sponsored schemes where subsidized loan is provided by the banks in Agriculture and livestock sector.He also said that the government has taken several steps to raise infrastructure of the Animal Husbandry Department to provide adequate facilities to the farming community in the state.Dr Samoon appreciated the efforts of Animal Husbandry Department, Samba for extension among farmers whereby an increasing number of dairy and poultry farms in the district are generating self-employment and livelihood for the farmers engaged with the sector.Among others, Director Animal Husbandry, Dr Tahir Beg, Joint Director Farm Jammu, Dr Mohammad Ismail, Chief Animal Husbandry Officer Samba, Dr Satpal Verma, Veterinary Doctors, senior officers and officials of the Department were present on the occasion.