Need Krishi Kendras to boost farming: Guv

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 11

Governor NN Vohra on Monday inaugurated the 25th meeting of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), regional committee no.1, at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Kashmir.

Welcoming the participants to the silver jubilee meeting of the ICAR regional committee no.1, the Governor appreciated the work being done by the farm universities and the state Agriculture Department for enhancing the on-farm incomes of small farm households in the state. He said the new models of agricultural production developed by the scientists, as for example the integrated farming system, should be systematically propagated to enable small farmers multiply their incomes.

The Governor stressed the vital responsibility of the Krishi Vigyan Kendras and the state farm universities to implement meaningful outreach programmes in close collaboration with state Agricultural Department and its extension agencies. Such endeavours will enable the farmers to become aware of new technologies and techniques for increasing efficiency and productivity of agricultural operations. He said the outcome of all research done at the farm universities and Central research institutes would be futile if the farmers were not enabled to make full use of new seeds, new plant materials and the latest techniques of farming.

Highlighting the crucial importance of the ICAR’s endeavour to review the research and education programmes in the three states of J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the Governor observed that ICAR’s technical support was immensely beneficial for carrying on research and extension activities in the states. He suggested opening more Krishi Vigyan Kendras in J&K and other hill states, with relaxed norms of land requirement, in order to strengthen the extension activities in the state.

The Governor said we needed to be focused regarding our targets and the challenges to prepare for achieving the goals of the second Green Revolution. He noted that the state’s import bill for meat, poultry and eggs was approximately Rs 2,000 crore per annum and both the farm universities and the Agriculture Department needed to prepare a well-considered roadmap for making J&K a net exporter of fish, poultry, dairy and other farm products.

Referring to the projected high yield of apples in the coming years, as a result of the introduction of high-density apple orchards in the Valley, the Governor stressed the urgent need to timely establish post-harvest technologies, storage infrastructure and processing units to enable the growers to make the expected gains. He complimented Prof Nazeer Ahmed, Vice Chancellor, for the promising work being done in Ladakh in animal husbandry, fruit crops and vegetable sectors where farmers were increasingly adopting the latest techniques to enhance their incomes.

The Governor said while tackling our local challenges, we also needed to devote urgent attention to deal with the speedily advancing phenomenon of global warming and climate change which was already beginning to affect food, fruit, vegetable and animal production. He said time had come for agriculture universities to enhance research efforts in identified areas for timely developing new seeds and plants which would be compatible with the rapidly changing climatic patterns.

The Governor observed that while the challenge before the country was to continuously increase its food production for feeding a population of 1.3 billion, which was still growing at a steady pace, in J&K, there was a need to meet the challenge of neutralising the annual food grain shortfall of about 5 to 6 lakh metric tonnes and work towards becoming a food grain-exporting state. He advised that for increasing productivity, we shall need to achieve high efficiency levels in the utilisation of land and water resources, altogether prohibit conversion of productive lands for varied non-agricultural purposes and take time-bound steps to check the degradation of land and water resources.

The Governor thanked Mohapatra, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education and DG, ICAR, and all his colleagues present at the function, for the strong support he had been providing to enhance agricultural productivity in J&K. The Governor also released various research publications on the occasion.

Ministers and senior official present on the occasion spoke about the challenges and technological breakthroughs in the agriculture and allied sectors and the availability of new technologies and techniques to substantially increase farmers’ income. Vice Chancellors of the farm universities of the states of J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, scientists, students were among those present on the occasion.