Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura reviewed the stocking, availability and distribution of various kinds of seeds and fertilizers amongst the farmers besides other development programmes of the Department during the ongoing Kharif 2015 cropping season at a meeting with the officers of the Agriculture Department Jammu and Command Area Development (CAD) Jammu.The Minister stressed upon officers of the department to ensure connectivity with the farmers adding that the government is making all out efforts to improve the agriculture sector by introducing several innovative measures to enable farmers to get maximum returns from their land. He also said that Mushroom and Apiculture sector which has a huge potential for employment generation should be given major thrust adding that Bee keeping in orchard areas should be promoted which not only would help in honey production but also enhance pollination and fruit production. He asked the concerned officers of the Department to organize joint seminar/ workshops with the Horticulture Department to create awareness and adopt appropriate strategy to achieve the purpose.
The minister directed the concerned officers to intensify their field visit programmes to ensure that area specific problems are identified and addressed in time. He called for taking measures to increase productivity level of all the crops. Director Agriculture Jammu Dr. S. S. Jamwal informed that adequate arrangements of seed and fertilizer have been made for the season. It was revealed that 14,403.00 qtls of maize seed has been stocked for availability to farmers against requirement of 18,000.00 qtls. Similarly 3197.00 qtls of paddy, 36.00 qtls of oilseeds, 86.00 qtls of pulses and 1734.00 qtls of fodder seed has been stocked till date and is being further provided to farmers on subsidized rates. Director Agriculture Jammu also apprised the Minister that 5632 Mts of Urea, 2906 MTs of DAP, 18 Mts of MOP and 271 MTs of NPK fertilizer has been made available to the farmers in Jammu division till date.
Director CAD, Jammu H K Sharma apprised the Minister about various plans of the Command Area Development department.
The progress of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) like National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), National Food Security Mission (NMSA), Mission on Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) was also reviewed in the meeting.The meeting was also attended by Joint Directors of Agriculture including senior level officers of Agriculture and Command Area Development Departments.