Principal Secretary, Animal & Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries Department, Navin Kumar Choudhary, today had a meeting with Trade Commissioner and Counsel General New Zealand, Ralph Hays and Senior Business Development Manager, Sudha Palit.The Trade Commissioner is on a visit to the UT in connection with recent Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) signed between governments of Jammu & Kashmir and New Zealand regarding transformation of sheep farming sector in the UT.The MoC is aimed at overhauling sheep husbandry sector in the region through transfer of technology, research and development besides value addition and marketing areas.The visiting team expressed the desire of having better understanding of existing trends in sheep husbandry in the region.
They also emphasized for exploring possibilities of collaboration of agriculture universities of J&K with those in New Zealand besides student exchange.Interacting with the team, Principal Secretary laid emphasis on phase wise development of the sector in J&K with breed improvement and wool processing ventures initially. During the initial couple of years, the government would focus on rapid breed development, setting up of required infrastructure and introducing technology to give boost to the nascent sector. He assured them of sufficient funding saying that the aim of the partnership is to give expertise handholding to the local sheep industry.It was agreed that designated government officers from J&K would be made to take first-hand exposure of sheep industry in New Zealand.Principal Secretary hailed the partnership with New Zealand and said that the sheep husbandry sector is being given massive financial infusion which would eventually boost the local economy. With it, the social and financial condition of tribal population of J&K would be greatly improved, he added.