Srinagar: Stressing the need to adapt to the changing climate in agricultural production, Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura Tuesday directed the concerned officers of agriculture and its allied wings to gear up their field functionaries and work in unison for implementation of Centrally sponsored and State sector schemes on ground.
Chairing a review meeting on ‘Climate Resilient’ projects, the Minister was informed that work on two such projects in Budgam and Bhalwal blocks are going on expected lines. It was given out that the department has so far spent Rs 5 lakh in Budgam block and similarly Rs 14 lakh have been spent in Bhalwal block in Jammu. The projects would be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 12 crore each.
In a bid to tackle water scarcity as a result of climate change, the projects would provide water and other irrigational facilities to farm lands in hilly parched areas of the State. The project will also envisages to minimize adverse effects of climate change.
It was informed that climate resilient aggregation project in block Bhalwal in Jammu and Surisyar block in Budgam would be started at a project cost of Rs 22.5 lakh. The ambit of these projects would be extended to the other parts of the State to realize the objective of enhanced resilience of agriculture crops, livestock and fisheries through development and application of improved production and management technologies.
The Minister directed the officers to maintain close co-ordination among the Department for effective implementation of the schemes. He asked officers to extend the Climate Resilient projects to vulnerable zones so that farmers would get largely benefitted. He also told the officers to sign a MoU with ICAR for technical guidance for new agriculture schemes.
Principal Secretary Agriculture Production, Secretary APD, Vice Chancellor SKUAST Kashmir/Jammu, CGM NABARD, Representative of ICAR, Project Director Climate Resilient Agriculture, Director Agriculture Kashmir/Jammu, Director Finance APD and other senior officers of the department attended the meeting.
In an another meeting, Minister for Agriculture discussed various issues related to strengthening of the already established mechanism of coordination between research institutes and agriculture department.
During the meeting, the Lab to land transfer of technology, seeds and their trials in the Department were discussed.
He said doubling the farmers income by 2022 is a challenging task but the co-ordination between Research institute and Department will help in achieving the goal.
The Minister directed officers to hold frequent visits to KVK’s which would help awareness about the programs of the Department.
The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary Agriculture Production, Vice Chancellor SKUAST Kashmir/Jammu, Director Agriculture Kashmir/Jammu and other senior officers of the department.
