Agri Dept organises exhibition, Kissan Mela at Anantnag

Ang: Agriculture Department Saturday organised one-day district Level Exhibition Cum Kissan Mela.
The Mela was inaugurated by Nazir Ahmad Laway, MP Rajya Sabha in presence of DDC, Anantnag, Mohammad Younis Malik and Director Agriculture Kashmir, Syed Altaf Aijaz Andrabi.
A large number of the progressive farmers from all four Agricultural Zones of the District i.e. Achabal, Doru, Pahalgam and Qaimoh participated in the mela. Agriculture and Allied sectors had established stalls for farmers where printing material regarding various centrally / state sponsored schemes was available to aware the farming community.
The DDC, Anantnag on the occasion hailed the efforts of the department in changing the economic scenario of the farmers particularly, in production of Mushkibudji, vegetables, fisheries, horticulture, apiculture and mushroom cultivation. Special emphasizes is being paid to the economic development of the farming community. He also said more than 31000 hectares of the district land is covered under Agriculture and Allied Sectors and the need of the hour is to safeguard the Agriculture land for using other commercial and residential purposes. He also said there is no shortage of funds in the Agriculture and Allied sectors. The farmers are availing loan facilities under KCC and 80000 beneficiaries were provided advances during the current fiscal.
The DDC also sought cooperation from the MP Rajya Sabha Nazir Ahmad Laway for Rs 1200 Cr. Project under PMKSY for the district so that better Irrigation facilities can be provided for the sector.
Nazir Ahmad Laway in his address said Department should also organize more Kissan Melas in other parts of the district so that farmers can be given information about the latest scientific techniques being implemented for the upliftment of the farmers. He also announced to cover the cost of the beehives from MP fund for all beneficiaries which have been listed by the Agriculture Department. Laway also appealed the farmers to come forward for the establishment of vermicompost manure units so that large-scale use of chemical fertilizers can be stopped.
The Chief Agriculture Officer, Anantnag on the occasion highlighted the major achievements of the department and said 280.5 qntls. Vermicompost manure has been produced in 122 Vermicompost units of the district. The Honey production has touched to 1079.83 Qtls. and a Revenue of Rs.325.015 lac has been earned under the Apiculture Sector. Out of 1.25 lacs Soil health cards have been issued among the farmers and soil samples of 1900 beneficiaries have been registered on soil health portal. Farm machinery of Rs 1.57 Cr have been provided which include Tractor, power Tiller, Power Weeder, Poly Green House, I.P Set, Water harvesting structure, Tube well/ bore well, Four wheelers, Poly film, Brush cutter, Mini power sprayer, Pack House, Manual Sprayer, Check Dam and Motorized Vending cart. He said 5500 Qntls of Mushkibudji have been produced and revenue of 7396 lacs have been generated. An area of 124.9375 hectare of land has been brought under Mushkibudji rice, he said.
The various officers from Agriculture, Horticulture, Sericulture, Apiculture, Mushroom, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, Sheep Husbandry and other field functionaries of the department were present on the occasion.