Director Agriculture Kashmir, Syed Altaf Aijaz Andrabi, today chaired a meeting to take stock of physical and financial progress of various centrally sponsored schemes being implemented by the Department in Kashmir division.On the occasion, the Director stressed on improving working capacities of field functionaries of the Department to achieve the physical targets in a time-bound manner and make the Agriculture sector more remunerative enterprise.He also emphasized upon transparency and accountability so that the benefits of all the farmer friendly schemes reach to intended beneficiaries.During the meeting, directions were passed to the officers to visit the concerned fields and advise farmers with respect to different preventive measures and modifications in the agricultural practices.The meeting also held a detailed discussion on the implementation of various schemes, capex budget, public welfare programmes, progress regarding formation of FPOs, details about the identification of the beneficiaries under Mushroom Cultivation Program, status of paddy threshers etc.Regarding mushroom cultivation, the Director said that the Department is committed to revive the sector on priority. He emphasized upon the officers to redouble their efforts in making the beneficiary oriented mushroom development units functional in all the districts.
The meeting also reviewed status of vegetable growing sector. The Director instructed all the Chief Agriculture Officers to facilitate the growers to export their produce to local as well as national market.Functioning of Farm Produce Organisations was also discussed and it was emphasized that at least three FPOs in each district must be framed to facilitate better production and smooth marketing of all agriculture products.The meeting was informed that the crop status of Kharief Crops is satisfactory and a bumper production is expected during the season.Procurement of Rabi Seeds like Oats, Oilseeds, Wheat was discussed and it was stressed to fast-track procurement process for timely supply of quality Rabi Seeds to the farmers.Details of Kissan credit card schemes, Soil Health cards and status of issuing Paddy Thrashers at Panchayat level in all districts was also discussed.During the meeting, the Director directed in-charge Quality Control Laboratory, Seed Pathology, Soil Testing Lab, Seed Testing Lab to procure hi-tech equipments for upgrading the laboratories as per their requirements and make labs relevant and effective for making the test results with precision and accuracy.The meeting was attended by Joint Director Agriculture Extension Chowdhary Mohammad Iqbal, Joint Director Agriculture Inputs Deepak Kumar, all the Divisional Level Officers and Chief Agriculture officers.