SRINAGAR: The Director Agriculture Kashmir, Chowdhary Muhammad Iqbal who is also the Controller of Insecticides J&K today convened a meeting to review the quality supply and availability of Pesticides in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir for upcoming agriculture season.
To safeguard the interests of farming community, the Director said that the department has formulated a road map for ensuring timely availability and monitoring of quality Pesticides/ Insecticides/ Fungicides/ Weedicides to the farmers/ orchardists in the UT of J&K during 2020-21.
Chowdhary directed the registered companies to dump their products in the warehouses well in advance, before the spray is actually required for use in the fields so that the necessary testing of the products as per the Insecticide Act 1968 shall be initiated in a time bound manner and the quality supply is regulated judiciously.
He directed Joint Director Agriculture Extension to restore a dedicated helpline number for providing necessary information regarding agricultural activities and timely redressal of the grievances of farmers/growers.
Law Enforcement wing of the department has been directed to gear up their field functionaries to constitute monitoring teams during the peak season for North, Central and South Kashmir headed by concerned District Law Enforcement officers so that the menace of spurious pesticides is curbed.
Joint Director Agriculture Seed , Pesticides and Fertilizers was asked to monitor and coordinate with Plant Protection Officers of Kashmir / Jammu Division to keep a close liaison with Director Research SKUAST-K / SKUAST-J for taking collaborated steps to check the menace of spurious trade in order to safeguard the interest of farming community.
Director Law Enforcement J&K Abdul Rahim Samoon, Joint Director Seeds, Pesticides and Fertilizers Kashmir Mohammad Iqbal Khan, Joint Director Agriculture Extension Kashmir Mohammad Muzaffar Hurra, besides other concerned officers and officials attended the meeting.
