JAMMU: Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture Production Department, Atal Dulloo, today chaired a meeting to review the availability of seeds and planting material for kharief season in Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting had detailed deliberation on various issues concerning the availability, procurement, and distribution of seeds and planting material in the UT.
Dulloo asked the officers to ensure that the seed replacement rate of at least 33 percent is maintained in the UT. He held a discussion on ensuring the availability of breeder seeds of paddy, wheat, oilseeds, maize, fodder, and pulses. At present, breeder seeds are being obtained from ICAR and SKUAST to fulfill additional demand.
It was decided in the meeting that the seeds required for local consumption be produced in the region as they are more resistant to local infections and diseases.
ACS directed the officers to register 50 Primary Seed Producers (PSP) each in Jammu and Kashmir regions before the end of the current calendar year after strict quality checks by the department. Subsequently, the number has to be raised to 100 PSPs in each region by March 2023, he added.
He said that efforts are being made to make sure that the seeds may be procured from National Seeds Corporation and necessary MoU be signed by December this year to ensure the availability of seeds for the upcoming Kharif season.
ACS called for redoubling efforts toward improving the quality and efficiency of existing government nurseries. He cautioned the concerned officers against any failure on their part as far as obtaining National Horticulture Board certification for the nurseries.
He assessed the availability of planting materials like budding, grafting, and rootstock in both, the public and private sectors.
Atal Dulloo emphasized that the Horticulture Department should not procure planting material from nurseries not accredited by the National Horticulture Board and reminded that individual farmers procuring from such nurseries would also be ineligible for any departmental subsidy.
ACS asked the concerned officers to ensure the availability of around 10 lakh plants of high quality for 300-hectare high-density apple plantations. The imported root stock held in quarantine for the last two years was also told to be released for plantation.
Among others, the meeting was attended by the Secretary of Agriculture Production Department, Shabnam Kamili, and Directors of Horticulture Jammu, and Kashmir among others.
