Jammu,November 01 (Scoop News) – With a view to boost horticulture production and to make optimal use of water resources, the State Government will shortly launch Drip and Sprinkle Irrigation Scheme under National Mission on Micro Irrigation Scheme. This is a centrally sponsored scheme and will be implemented across the State in a phased manner. The Government has earmarked Rs. 6.30 crore for its implementation during the current fiscal.
This was revealed by the Minister for Horticulture & Floriculture, Sham Lal Sharma, during a one-day work shop on Micro Irrigation, organized by the Directorate of Horticulture to sensitize horticulture officers about the technique, here today.
Asking the officers to create massive awareness amongst the farmers about the features of this latest technique, the Minister maintained that maximum number of farmers should avail the benefits of this scheme. He said that scheme has already been successfully implemented in most of the States of the country and it has changed the fate of lakhs of farmers, especially in the areas where water resources are less .
With the launching of this scheme, 60 per cent of irrigation water will be saved, he added. He stressed for bringing more areas under the ambit of horticulture in the tropical and sub-tropical areas to improve the economic strata of the farming community. He said the State is blessed with rich horticulture potential and all out efforts should be made to grab the opportunities to make the State self reliant in food, fresh vegetables and fruits.
To conserve the water resources, Sham emphasized for construction of check dams which can be more useful in the rain fed areas. He asked the officers to motivate farmers for adopting the cluster approach and avail government assistance. He said farmers should also be motivated to shift over to multi crop system to earn more revenues.
Maintaining that horticulture is the mainstay of State’s economy as this is the major industry which has its identity; the Minister said that Government will take more steps to spread wings of the departments in the new markets. He said this year some new experiments have been undertaken and indicators are in the positive direction. This year, the State’s produce has hit markets in Himachal Pradesh and other new destinations, which have given extra confidence to the farmers, besides the farmers are fetching good prices for their products. Next year, the Government would devise new strategies and set fresh targets so that State take lead in competing other fruit producing States and countries. He made it clear that quality will be thrust area and concentration will be on meeting the supplies and demands. Officers will be made more accountable and they will have to realize the targets, said Sharma.
Referring to horticulture leadership award conferred to the State recently, he said this was the result of dedication, commitment and collective efforts of all sections of the employees of the department. He stressed for more hard work to sustain the position.
Regarding floriculture, the Minister said that during the past over two and half years, the flower production has registered all time high growth. A couple of years ago, the State used to import flowers from other parts of the country, but now the flowers are being sent out. He stressed upon the officers to motivate more and more people towards this activity to help the State in improving the GDP growth rate. He said flowers are high in demand in the domestic market in all seasons and farmers must be educated about the latest varieties of flowers suiting to the local conditions and also about the government schemes.
Director Horticulture, Jia Lal Sharma in his welcome address briefed about the aim and objective of the workshop. He said during the day long workshop the officers drawn from Jammu division will be educated about the ingredients of the scheme which will help them smooth implementation at the ground level. He hoped that the officers will take full advantage of the event and deliver things in real sense to achieve the goals.
Naresh Modi and Rohit Lal from NCPAH, Government of India were the resource persons on the occasion. They cleared the queries of officers about the operational guidelines of the scheme and its allied aspects.
Director Floriculture, K.K.Sharma and horticulture officers/floriculture officers/agriculture officers from across the Jammu division were present on the occasion.