Jammu: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Tuesday called for replicating the success stories of innovative and progressive farmers from across the country in Jammu and Kashmir through transmission of ideas and knowledge sharing for transforming agriculture and allied sectors, and for realizing the goal of doubling farmers’ income.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of a two-day conference on “Farmer-led Innovations for Enhancing Farm Income” at SKUAST Jammu, Sinha termed the innovative farmers as key change-makers in agricultural development and a motivating force for the whole farming community.
He also urged them to disseminate their technical know-how for further emulation by farmers to multiply their income.
On the occasion, the LG felicitated five Padma Shri awardee farmers — Bharat Bhushan Tyagi, Kanwal Singh Chouhan, Sultan Singh, Ram Sharan Verma and Chander Shekhar Singh — and other innovative farmers including Major Manmohan Singh Virka, Gurpreet Singh Shergill, Krishan Yadav, Pooja Sharma, Hariman Sharma and Yogendra Kaushik, an official press release informed.
More than 100 prominent progressive farmers from J&K, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh are participating in the conference.
Speaking on the occasion, the LG underscored the significance of promoting best practices, sharing of innovative ideas and experiences among farmers. He said that the conference would provide an exclusive platform to farmers to exchange ideas and gain new knowledge in farming.
“Impetus should be given to information sharing, research and extension programs by universities for meeting the expectations of farmers and preparing them to overcome modern-day challenges like global warming,” he added.
The LG observed that the seamless transfer of technology from universities to farmers is imperative for introducing the farmers with innovative ways of farming.
For providing a substantial increase in farmers’ income, the LG called for developing strategies and credible mechanisms for upscaling of farmers-led innovations and further strengthening the spirit of “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” and making J&K ‘AatmaNirbhar’ (self-reliant) in agriculture sector.
The LG also suggested a host of measures for achieving faster growth in the agriculture sector along-with providing sustainable income and livelihood to farmers.
The LG said that there are about 8000 species of medicinal and aromatic plants available in India but only 10 percent of them are being utilized. He urged the scientific community to make dedicated efforts for exploiting the full potential of unutilized plant species.
He suggested for creating umbrella groups for selling local and small scale products, besides holding brainstorming sessions on the innovations happening in various categories of start-ups in agriculture such as agro-processing, artificial intelligence, digital agriculture, agricultural mechanization, waste to wealth, dairy, fisheries, and other entrepreneurship programs.
He also urged the farming community to utilize latest social media sources for updating their knowledge about agriculture and allied sectors.
The LG stressed on developing new and improved crop varieties which can withstand changing climatic stress conditions, besides adopting need-based, location-specific and field tested innovations.
He also advocated for sustainable organic farming and cultivation of traditional crops, besides initiating entrepreneurial and vocational courses in the university for creating more start-ups in agriculture and allied sectors. He further asked the scientists to take up research projects in latest technological interventions such as application of artificial intelligence in agriculture, climate smart agriculture, vertical farming, etc.
The LG appreciated SKUAST-Jammu for organizing such innovative events and emphasized for speedy dissemination of technological interventions from labs to fields.
Speaking on the occasion, Farooq Khan, Advisor to the LG, called upon the farmers of J&K and the students of SKUAST to take full advantage of the experiences and knowledge of the innovative farmers participating in the conference. He stressed on the need to impart practical knowledge to the students so that they could connect themselves with the various aspects of agriculture and develop themselves from ‘job-seekers’ to ‘job-providers’.
Navin Kumar Choudhary, Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture Production & Farmers’ welfare and Horticulture stressed on adoption of integrated farming system and mechanized farming by the farmers for realizing the goals of doubling farmers’ income. He emphasized for achieving self-sufficiency in livestock based products by rejuvenating dairy and poultry industries.
He informed that with the intervention of the LG, free thresher is being provided in every Panchayat of the Union Territory, besides Road Tax on tractors up to 3000 CC capacity has also been exempted.
