JK Gov for coordination between Agri Universities, field agencies

 Jammu, March 20 (Scoop News) –  N. N. Vohra, Governor, has stressed the need for complete coordination between the Agricultural Universities and all concerned departments and field agencies of the State Government for ensuring rapid transfer of the technologies to equip the farmers with latest know-how and timely providing irrigation facilities, seeds, fertilizers and other inputs for securing the objective of substantially increasing the agri-production in the State in the coming years.    

The Governor, as Chief Guest, was addressing the Valedictory Function of the 2-day Kissan Mela-2012 organized by the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu, at its Main Campus at Chatha near here today. The main theme of the Mela was “Innovative Farm Technologies for Profitable Agriculture”, with major thrust on demonstration of the transferable technologies to improve agriculture productivity and sustainability.

The Governor, who is the Chancellor of the University, observed that there is vast potential in increasing productivity and production of cereals, vegetables, mushroom, pulses, oil seeds, horticulture, floriculture, fisheries, beekeeping, animal and sheep husbandry, poultry and other allied activities, adding that every effort is required to be made to optimally benefit from this potential. He also emphasized the need for making available post-harvest technologies and marketing facilities to the growers so that they could get remunerative returns for their produce. He added that J&K is largely dependent on imports of pulses, oil seeds, food grains, milk, mutton and poultry products from outside the State and in this context stressed the need for a well coordinated approach to gain self-sufficiency in regard to all these areas. He said that our State has three distinct geographical regions with varied ago-climatic conditions, each of which needs an area-specific approach for the growth of agriculture and its allied sectors.

The Governor called upon the farmers to visit the Integrated Farming System Research Model of FSR, which has been established by the University on 1.5 hectares of land for undertaking advance research targeting small and marginal farmers. He added that by adopting such models farmers can benefit immensely even from their small land holdings. He observed that keeping in view the small land holdings in J&K the possibilities could also be explored for the promotion of contract farming to benefit the small farmers. He said that another area which requires greater focus is enhancing agri-productivity and production in the rain-fed areas.

The Governor observed that lot of work is taking place in the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (Jammu) in the arenas of teaching, research and extension activities. In this context, he lauded the leadership of Dr. B. Mishra, Vice Chancellor and significant initiatives which had been taken in the State in the past few years for the growth of agriculture and allied sectors and hoped that all these would bear fruit soon.

The Governor gave away prizes to the farmers and various organizations for their outstanding achievements in the varied fields of agriculture and allied activities. He interacted with them and congratulated them for their achievements.  

The Governor, accompanied by  Ghulam Hassan Mir, Minister for Agriculture, and Dr. B. Mishra, Vice Chancellor, SKUAST, visited various stalls at the Exhibition put up as part of the Kissan Mela, interacted with the scientists and stallholders and evinced keen interest in the exhibits.

Earlier, the Governor visited the Integrated Farming System Research Model FSR Centre at the University Campus. He enquired about the progress of various aspects of the Integrated Farming System. He urged the Vice Chancellor to explore the possibility of setting up a hatchery in the University Campus to provide quality chicks to the farmers.

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