STATE TIMES NEWS
KATHUA: Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh on Sunday asked the Agriculture Department to formulate a vision document for facilitating the farmers for better use of technological intervention in the field of agriculture and providing better marketing support to realise Prime Minister’s dream of doubling farmers income by 2022.
The Deputy Chief Minister said this during one day ‘Agriculture Technocrat Convention’ held here. Member Legislative Assembly Kathua, Rajiv Jasrotia was the Guest of Honour on the occasion.
The convention was organised by Village Agriculture Extension Association of J and K to highlight their long pending grievances.
Director Agriculture, H K Razdan; Joint Director, S.K Sambyal; CAO Kathua, Anand Kishore; DC Kathua, Ramesh Kumar; SSP Kathua, Suleman Choudhary; District Officers and Village Agriculture Extension Assistants (VAEAs) were present in large numbers.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that the workforce of the Agriculture Department comprises of qualified professionals and hence it is expected from them to work for prosperity of the farmers. He added that agriculture is the backbone of our economy and to increase farmers produce new farm inputs be provided to the farmers besides enabling them to sell their produce in markets and linking villages with grain procurement centers. It would help to raise their income which in turn stimulates the farmer’s interest to adopt better farm technology with sufficient income, he added.
Underscoring the importance of integrated and organic farming, Deputy Chief Minister said that sustainable agriculture means an integrated approach to increasing farm yield and managing resources in order to address all three critical aspects of sustainability: economic, environmental and social. He further assured the VAEAs that a committee will be framed to look into their demands like equalisation in the pay scales, benefit of old pension scheme and reconsideration of pay grade besides others.
Member Legislative Assembly Kathua, Rajiv Jasrotia highlighted various State and Central Government schemes launched for the welfare of the farmers.
Director, H.K Razdan, on the occasion, said that prosperity of the farmers is our motto and our qualified workforce is toiling hard to improve their socio-economic conditions under a well devised comprehensive plan.
