Srinagar: In his latest episode of Awaam ki Awaz, the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha showered praise on Shopian’s Shahid Ahmad Bhat for his suggestions and concern regarding the horticulture sector in the area.
Shahid is hopeful that after his suggestions received well by the LG himself the problems he highlighted would be resolved promptly. He says that being an apple grower he is highly concerned about the recurrance of diseases damaging his fruit trees year after year. He mentions that right from year 2014 the cash crop of apple in his area is getting damaged due to several diseases.
Shahid attributes this yearly loss to the poor quality of spray oils. He says, “Why is this happening if we spray our trees as per the schedule of Horticulture department.”
Shahid suggests that for curbing this menace of substandard chemicals in the market there should be proper training and information provided to the horticulturists. He suggests for making horticulture department more proactive.
Shahid also says that there is huge price variation in the market rates of chemicals used in orchards. He asks, “Why there is no fixed MRP on every chemical used by the farmers.” He is confident that by doing so the orchardists would be saved from getting duped by the manufacturers. He also favours “banning of companies from doing business here for at least 3 years whose products are found spurious”.
Keeping in view his suggestions, the Lt Governor has outlined the detailed plan of the administration whereby phase wise training is being provided to the horticulturists. The LG has further mentioned that instructions have been provided to solve regional problems of farmers and information facility is provided to them by means of the database prepared by the Agriculture and Horticulture department in collaboration with districts and Krishi Vigyan Kendras.
