* Says Govt committed to promote horticulture in big way
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 16 : Minister of State for Education, Technical Education, Culture, Tourism, Horticulture, Floriculture and Parks, Priya Sethi today said that Jammu and Kashmir has huge potential in horticulture and the Government is committed to provide all possible support to fruit growers to promote fruit production in the State in a big way.
The Minister was speaking after inaugurating first of its kind Mango Show here today.
Vice Chairman, J&K State Advisory Board for Development of Kisans Daljeet Singh Chib, MLA Akhnoor Rajeev Sharma, MLA Khour Krishan Lal Bhagat, Secretary to Government, Horticulture Department M H Malik were also present on the occasion.
Nearly 600 fruit growers from different districts of Jammu region participated in the show along with their fruit exhibits. Different varieties of mangoes including Dasehri, Amarpali, Malta, Fazli, while a total of 1691 entries were entertained in the event organized by the Department of Horticulture.
Addressing the fruit growers, the Minister said that it is a matter of great importance that our region produces variety of mangoes which needs to be promoted. Stressing on the relation between grower and Horticulture Department, the Minister urged the growers to come up with their suggestions/experiences so that required improvements could be made by the department.
Priya Sethi said that adequate promotion needs to be given to different schemes launched under horticulture sector so that those living in rural areas could get benefit of the same. She called for a change in the mindset of the unemployed youth towards entrepreneurship and asked them to become job providers instead of job seekers. She said that such exhibitions, besides encouraging them to adopt modern techniques, help in developing cordial relationship between the department and the stakeholder.
The Minister said that various innovative measures have been put in place to bring maximum area under the ambit of horticulture cultivation to improve the economic conditions of the farmers. Maintaining that Jammu division has huge potential for horticulture produce, the Minister advised the farmers to switchover to cash crops like developing Mango, Amla, Litchi, Guava, and strawberry orchids instead of traditional crops, adding that these crops have great demand in the market.
Priya Sethi also informed the gathering that soon packaging houses would be established in all the districts which will directly help the fruit growers in terms of proper marketing and sale of their production.
While highlighting the initiatives of the Government to promote mango production, Priya Sethi said that two Mango villages are being established at Akhnoor and Khour blocks and under the project an area of 100 hectare in each village will be covered in 4 years starting from 2016-17. The areas have been identified and pit designs for plantation has almost been completed, while about 5000 mango plants will be planted in first year, she added.
On the occasion, stalls were setup by Floriculture Department, SKUAST and private companies. Farming tools and equipments were also exhibited during the show. Literature containing important information for fruit growing/farmers was also provided to the participants.
The Minister also distributed prizes to the participants of the Mango show. Kuldeep Raj bagged the prize of ‘Fruit of the show’ while Nitya Anand, Mohammad Ashraf and Rakesh Singh won 1st and 2nd prizes respectively.
Among others, Director Horticulture Jammu, A K Sharma, Director Floriculture Jammu, K K Sharma, Director Extension SKUAST Jammu, CHOs of all districts of Jammu division, concerned officers, fruit large number of fruit growers/farmers, representatives of Fruit/Flower grower associations were present on the occasion.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
