Horticulture
The agriculture mINISTER of J&k said the Department has shifted its focus from the cultivation of food grains to total diversification in agriculture produce. HE said high income generating crops like fruits, flowers, vegetables, medicinal plants and allied activities like sericulture have been incentivized and encouraged
agriculture department, Mir said Seed Replacement Rate (SRR) of the State has gone up over the last four years from 10% to 24.78% in Paddy and from 10.79% to 29.77% in wheat and efforts are on to reach the level of 33%, the national benchmark. Focus on saffron Saying that saffron is heritage cash crop of the J&K, the Minister said that an ambitious National Mission for the rejuvenation of saffron in the State, with an investment of Rs 372.18 crores has been launched. It is expected that production of saffron would double in the State by the end of four years. He said under the mission more and more areas are being covered under the saffron cultivation and SKUAST-K has been asked to find the feasibility of other areas in valley where this heritage crop would be cultivated for boosting the rural economy. Procurement Mir said that Department of Agriculture, Jammu has taken up market intervention for the last two years to prevent distress sale of their food-grains produce by farmers. He said Agriculture Department Jammu facilitated an all-time high procurement of 92,499.45 quintals of wheat grains and 36,118.95 qtls of paddy grains by FCI with the active involvement of the CAPD Department. Productivity The Minister said the Chakroi Seed Multiplication Farm is being developed
and upgraded at a cost of Rs.30 crores in Jammu Division for production of high quality Basmati seeds of traditional variety of R S Pura. Besides in order to further increase the production/ productivity of local Basmati variety of R S Pura, measures are also being taken under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, National Food Security Mission and Macro Management of Agriculture. So far an amount of Rs 11.5 crore stands utilized on this account, he added The Minister said under Command Area Development, 16 projects are under execution in J&K State with total command area of 1,68,922 hectares, out of which 69,536 hectors have been covered by way of construction of field channels and field drains. Sericulture Saying that Sericulture continues to be a subsidiary occupation for rural families of the State, the Minister said annually 900 MTs of cocoon are being produced to generate an income of Rs 11.93 crore for silkworm rears. The income generation has shown an increase of 24% over the previous years. Infrastructure Underlining the importance of Horticulture in boosting the rural economy, Mir said that there is a need to focus on infrastructure for post harvesting as it is only way to compete with international market. He said the State Government is providing funding for creation of postharvest infrastructure.
Commercial floriculture Underscoring the need to develop the floriculture on commercial lines, The Minister asked the youth to opt it as a profitability activity as the department has adopted commercial floriculture which include providing of financial and technical assistance and development of post-harvest facilities and marketing channels for the benefit of the growers. He said sufficient progress has been made in cultivation of various kinds and varieties of cut flowers like Carnation, Lillium, Gladolus, Marigold and Tulip. Mir said commercial floriculture is picking up fast in both the divisions of the State adding that the area under cultivation has increased to 350 hectares during 2012-13 with annual turnover of about Rs.14.50 crores. Earlier, the Minister moved that a sum of Rs. 1151.97 crores be granted to the Government to defray the charges which will come in the course of payment during the year ending March 31, 2014. Food & fruit Processing potential Minister of state for Industries & Commerce, Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo recently underlined the significance of food processing industry in Jammu & Kashmir, stating that the sector has the potential to become beacon of industrial development in J&K. The Minister said this while inaugurating a seminar on “National Mission on Food Processing and Capacity Building�. More than 100 entrepreneurs participated in the seminar. The
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