Principal Secretary Agriculture Production and Farmer’s Welfare Department (AP&FWD), Navin Kumar Choudhary today visited Kangan and other areas of district Ganderbal to take stock of the progress made during massive drive held by the Department of Agriculture to double the area under oilseeds (Mustard) under ‘National Mission on Edible Oils”.During the visit, the Principal Secretary monitored the sowing operations at some places and interacted with the farmers. Principal Secretary said that earlier after harvesting the Paddy crop only a small percentage of land was brought under Oilseed cultivation, but now the Department has held a drive to ensure that more and more area is brought under the cultivation of Oilseeds in the valley.The Principal Secretary said that the Prime Minister’s vision to minimize the dependence on the import of edible oils is the actual idea behind this massive campaign to double the area under the cultivation of oilseeds.
Navin Choudhary said that we are importing a large quantity of edible oils from other countries and by organizing such drives we could increase our own edible oil production to a large extent. He said this drive will not only increase our local edible oil production but it will also increase the income of our farming community and will help in the socio economic transformation which is the ultimate goal. He said the present massive drive is on, from last ten days. He ensured the farmers that every kind of technical support would be provided to them from the Department.He asked the concerned officers to work in mission mode so that the desirable results could be achieved.Earlier Director Agriculture Kashmir Chowdhary Mohammad Iqbal briefed the Principal Secretary about the various activities that have been carried by the Department from 1st October to make this massive campaign successful. He said that Department has worked in all the districts of the valley to ensure that maximum area could be brought under the cultivation of oilseed.