Principal Secretary Agriculture Production Department Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon today inaugurated Agriculture Laboratory Block, here at Agriculture Complex, Lalmandi.Director Agriculture Kashmir, Syed Altaf Aijaz Andrabi, Director Command Area, Mohammad Haroon Malik, Joint Director Agriculture Extension, Project Coordinator Mushroom, Deputy Director Central, Agriculture Chemist, Potato Development Officer and other divisional officers of the department were present on the occasion.Speaking on the occasion, the Secretary deliberated upon the officers to uphold the quality standards of pesticides / fertilizers organic/ bio-fertilizers so as to provide quality products to farming community for agriculture and horticulture crops. He also insisted on increasing the capacity of the Laboratory for testing with high tech equipments with precision and accuracy for sustainable and remunerative agriculture.Dr. Samoon also instructed the officers to increase the production of high quality crops by introduction of latest technological interventions in agriculture farms.On the occasion, Director Agriculture informed the meeting that the Quality Control Laboratory has been augmented and upgraded after September 2014 deluge to provide quality products of pesticides, fertilizers and organic fertilizers, to the farmers.It was informed that Organic fertilizer Quality testing Lab has been established wherein Quality of Organic Fertilizers is tested on the parameters like organic carbon Ph , EC, Bulk density, Ash, N,P,K. The quality of Saffron and Honey is also being tested as per the ISO standards.Earlier, Dr Samoon also handed over seven tractors to the department. The induction of the new tractors would strengthen the mechanization of agriculture farms. He also distributed three load carriers among the farmers on subsidy of Rs one lakh each.The Principal Secretary later in the day also held another meeting to review the functioning of Agriculture Department.During the meeting the Secretary was apprised about various issues faced by the department due to the delay in the release of funds under certain schemes.The meeting also discussed the production and requirement of food grains in relation to the population growth in Kashmir.Dr. Samoon assured the officers that the genuine demands would be considered and prompt action in this regard would be taken at an earliest so that the department can function in a smooth manner.