Deputy Commissioner, Ramban, Mussarat Islam today reviewed the production scenario of Agriculture and allied sectors besides action taken on the directions issued by the Principal Secretary to the Government, Agriculture Production & Farmers’ Welfare, Horticulture, Fisheries and Animal and Sheep Husbandry Departments, Naveen Kumar Choudhary during his visit to the district in the month of June, 2021. ADC, Harbans Lal, Chief Agriculture Officer, Farooq Ahmed Bhat; Chief Horticulture Officer, VK Gupta; Assistant Director Fisheries, Fayaz Ahmed, CAHO, Dr. Bharat Bhushan Raina, DSHO Vikas Gupta and other officers attended the meeting.The meeting was informed that the district has targeted to double the honey production from 4500 quintal to 9000 quintal to explore its export potential under the One District One Product(ODOP) scheme. The DC took point wise review of the progress made by the different departments in implementing directions issued by the Principal Secretary.The DC directed the Chief Horticulture Officer to immediately forward the list of 50 identified beneficiaries to Director Horticulture, Jammu for providing them Solar Dryers unit which shall pave way for mechanized drying of Anardana.
The CHO informed the meeting that the department has scaled up Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities to motivate the youth to take up agriculture and horticulture based entrepreneurship.“Encouraging results have been obtained in increasing the Green Pea cultivation and there is every likelihood of enhancing annual production this year,” he added.He informed the meeting that the annual production of Honey in District Ramban is 4500 quintal and adequate steps have been taken double the production to 900 quintal under ODOP scheme.It was informed that the department has identified several sites for installation of Bore Wells by the agriculture and Horticulture departments. Suitable 40 hectare land also identified for red chilli cultivation, for which seeds have been procured through GeM Portal. He said a proposal for sanctioning a small refrigerated vehicle for the district has also been moved. The Horticulture Department under National Food Safety Mission will cultivate Olive plants on 30 hectares under its area extension programme. The revised DPRs for setting up Olive extraction plants at an estimated cost of Rs 50 Lakh have also been submitted to the Director Horticulture, Jammu, the CHO informed. Other issues pertaining to Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries, Animal and Sheep Husbandry sectors were also discussed in detail during the meeting.