Director Agriculture, Jammu Inder Jeet today kick started the mechanized harvesting of wheat crop at Seed Multiplication Farm, Chinore.He directed the farm management officers and workers to strictly adhere to COVID-19 advisory like proper sanitation of farm machinery, use of masks and maintenance of social distancing during the harvesting operation. The Director also showed keen interest in the latest machinery in operation at the farm like combines, reapers, straw collecting machines, balers etc.Joint Director Agriculture (Inputs), Anil Kumar Nargotra apprised that 1978 acres of land has been covered under different varieties of Wheat crop like HD 2967, WH 1086, HD 3086, PBW 644 and HD 3043 which will be harvested by utilizing six combine harvesters and likely to be completed within 20 days. The target of harvesting 100 acres of crop per day has been fixed.Farm manager, SM Farm, Chinore, S. K. Verma informed that besides wheat, 120 acres under oats, 52.5 acres under different Oilseeds and 30 acres under Pulses was also covered during current Rabi season.
He also told that production of 20000 quintals of high quality wheat seed is expected this year.Earlier, Director Agriculture also conducted field visit of Mishriwala zone and took stock of the field activities being undertaken by the department. He visited the Hi Tech Poly Green House spread over an area of 2000 sq meter at village Shamachak established with 50% departmental assistance under CAPEX.Interacting with the farmers, Director Agriculture asked them to organize themselves into Farmer Interest Groups (FIG) and Farmers Producers Organizations (FPOs) for enhancing their income through better marketing linkages of their produce. He inspected the Maize demonstration laid down on an area of 40 hactare under National Food Security Mission (NFSM) at village Manyal Brahmna. Further while inspecting the sprinkler irrigation installed at village Batehra, he asked the farmers to go for cultivation of market oriented vegetable crops with special focus on organic farming.Chief Agriculture Officer, Jammu, F.A. Bhat, SDAO, Marh, M. R. Rakwal and AEO, Mishriwala, Nirmal Parkesh Sharma and other field functionaries accompanied Director Agriculture during the field visit.