Kupwara: Director Agriculture Kashmir, Chowdhary Mohammad Iqbal, today conducted a daylong extensive tour of district Kupwara to assess the impact of present climatic scenario on standing crops.
During the tour, the Director also visited the Departmental Vegetable farm, Vegetable clusters and farmers’ fields of various villages of the district.
He said that global change in weather dynamics is making a visible impact on the agriculture scenario in Kashmir. “Weather parameters are globally changing so the need of the hour is to upgrade the agriculture operations and strategies as per the demand,” he added.
The Director impressed upon the officers and crop experts of the district to visit the fields and advise farmers with respect to different preventive measures and modifications in the agricultural practices. “Proper instructions and advisories must be issued to the farmers as per the local requirements and all the efforts must be put in place to save the crop losses,” he said.
He called upon the officers to adopt a proactive approach in reaching out to farmers to ensure speedy deliverance of technical guidance and moral support to the farming community.
Later, the Director took a detailed review of physical/financial progress under CAPEX/CSS, major physical achievements, area expansion under vegetable cultivation, status of KCC/PM-Kisan/PM-KMY, Soil Health Card Schemes, organic farming in district Kupwara.
While deliberating about the physical/ financial progress under CAPEX/CSS, the Director laid stress upon the officers to achieve a cent percent target within the stipulated time frame. He instructed them to follow all codal formalities and reach out to the farmers for delivery of departmental schemes judiciously.
He directed the Chief Agriculture Kupwara to come up with a comprehensive plan for establishing Farmers Field Schools in the district to facilitate and strengthen the linkage between youth and department to encourage active exploration and understanding of the modern farming system.
During the meeting, the Director laid a special emphasis on the development of the Apiculture in the district on scientific lines for raising the economic standards of farmers associated with this sector.
He also issued on spot directions for conducting capacity building programs for the field functionaries of the district to update them regarding various centrally sponsored schemes.
During the proceedings Joint Director Agriculture Inputs, Joint Director Farms, Deputy Director Planning highlighted the need & importance of awareness to the farmers regarding different farmer friendly schemes being implemented by the department and adoption of innovations for promotion of socio-economic status of the farming community.
The Director was accompanied by Joint Director Inputs, Joint Director Farms, Deputy Director Planning, Chief Technical Officer and other senior officers of the department.
The Director also initiated the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan campaign from the Chief Agriculture Office, Kupwara during the visit.
