JAMMU: Flagging crop insurance and marketing support to the produce as key to restore the confidence of farming community in the agriculture sector, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday directed the administration to see how these two facilities are ensured to agriculturists even as she suggested use of CDF funds to give a push to rural economy.
Chairing a meeting of J and K Board for the Development of Kissans here, the Chief Minister said over the decades farmers have started losing interest in the trade due to poor or unstable marketing facilities or fear of crop loss in the event of any natural calamity like drought, hailstorm, floods etc. She asked the administration to plug the loopholes in this regard and see how various schemes and programmes meant for marketing agricultural produce and insurance of the crops are effectively and extensively executed on the ground. Likewise, she said, transportation also plays a role in the timely dispatch of the agriculture produce to mandies and directed augmentation of the same.
Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Nirmal Singh, Minister for R&B and Parliamentary Affairs, A. R. Veeri, Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Nabi Lone, Minister for Finance, Dr. Haseeb A. Drabu, Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Sham Choudhary, Minister for Animal and Sheep Husbandry, Abdul Ghani Kohli, Minister for Cooperatives, T. Dorjey, Minister for FCS&CA, CH. Zulfkar Ali, Minister for Rural Development, Abdul Haq, MoS for Tourism, Floriculture, Priya Sethi, MoS for Fisheries and Forests, Mir Zahoor, MoS for Transport, Sunil Sharma, vice chairman, J&K Board for the Development of Kissans, Daljeet Singh Chib were present in the meeting.
The Chief Minister, who is also chairperson of the board, said rural economy needs to be given a push as other economies have either reached a saturation stage or are not so rewarding. She said agriculture and allied sectors still hold a good scope of employability in rural and semi-urban areas. She said if concerted efforts are made agriculture would see a turnaround in the coming four to five years.
Mehbooba Mufti suggested that funds under Constituency Development Fund may be used to undertake economic activities in poultry, fisheries, apiculture and other areas of rural economy. She also suggested creating constituency-wise model villages for poultry, milk, fisheries, vegetables, basmati, mushkbudji, sheep etc. where these rural economy sectors would be developed exclusively and extensively.
During the meeting, the Chief Minister sought details of waiving off of Kissan credit loans and directed removal of all bottlenecks to make the process speedy. She also sought details of the steps being taken for development of vegetable mandi at Assar Doda and also steps being taken for promotion of Sunflower cultivation in the State. She stressed on exhibiting and displaying of all schemes and facilities for the farming community.
Making his intervention, Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Nirmal Singh complimented the board for its activation and sought increase in the frequency of its meetings. He said the Agenda of Alliance of the present Government has vowed the growth and development of agriculture in the State.
Chief Secretary, B.R Sharma, Chairman, J&K Bank, Parvez Ahmad, Financial Commissioner, Agriculture Production, Pramod Jain, administrative secretaries of several Departments and members of the board were also present in the meeting.