Minister Javid Dar inaugurates buyer-seller meet for farmers

Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Agriculture Production Department, Rural Development & Panchayat Raj, Javid Ahmad Dar, on Thursday inaugurated first of its kind buyer-seller meet, organised by the Department of Horticulture Planning & Marketing (HP&M) to bridge the gap between the farmers and the market.

The Minister visited the stalls of various FPOs and entrepreneurs and interacted with the participants.

An official spokesperson said Minister instructed the Director, HP&M, for handholding the entrepreneurs, sharing the information of government interventions and schemes with them.

Dar urged the growers to think innovatively and adopt modern production techniques for increasing their yield. He highlighted the significance of diversification of crops and also called for promotion of indigenous varieties of crops.

Regarding the demand for curbing import of spurious fertilisers and pesticides damaging crop production, the Minister assured that a separate enforcement wing shall be created to maintain strict vigil on selling of substandard quality of fertilisers and pesticides in the market.

Dar stated that affirmative action shall be initiated to reform the system and more labs shall be established to check the quality of imported horticulture inputs. He said all the stakeholders need to remain updated with the information of empanelled agencies with the department and also asked them to register with eNAM.

Various representatives of associations, entrepreneurs and progressive farmers also spoke on the occasion. They highlighted the requirement of interventions of government, expectations, experience, feasibility for growth of the horticulture sector and its role and contribution in GDP.

The meet was attended by representatives of fruit growers associations, traders, entrepreneurs, buyers both local and from other states, officers and officials of Agriculture Production Department and HP&M Department.