Navin calls for control trials of maize, millet in Jammu

Jammu | :Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Navin Kumar Choudhary, chaired a meeting to discuss marketing strategies for Agriculture and Horticulture products of J&K here Thursday.
Territory Head J&K, Policy Advocacy Research Centre (PARC), RuchitaRane also attended and shared her expertise during the meeting.
The objective of the meeting was to discuss technical interventions and market linkage procedures to be adopted to increase production of maize, millets and other crops and ultimately increase the farmers’ income.
It was decided in the meeting that Foxtail Millet would be sown on pilot basis in Jammu district over an area of 25 hectare.
Principal Secretary said that special attention would be given to increase quality through technical supervision in areas of Rajouri, Poonch and Banihal subdivisions. He said special measures would be initiated to ramp up marketing opportunities for farmers.
Principal Secretary informed that independent entrepreneurs would be welcomed to participate in pilot trials of both the crops. They would be provided land and technical know-how by the departments, he added.
Principal Secretary appreciated the concept of creating a ‘Crop Calendar’ to facilitate farmers of both Jammu and Kashmir regions. He sought detailed information on local crops and their cultivation statistics to help create the calendar.
Those present in the meeting included Director Horticulture Jammu, Ram Sevak; Director Agriculture Jammu, K K Sharma; Additional Secretary Horticulture, Jahangir Hashmi; Joint Director Agriculture Jammu, AS Reen; JD Marketing PHM, Infra and FM Jammu, Mahesh Verma; Seed Analyst, Rakesh Sharma and Technical Officer, SanjeevKhajuria.
Director General Horticulture Kashmir, Aijaz Ahmad Bhat and other officers from Kashmir joined the meeting through video conference.