STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Principal Secretary, Agriculture Production & Farmers Welfare Department, Navin Kumar Choudhary on Sunday chaired a meeting of State Seed Sub-committee held to release newly developed varieties of different crops produced by Sher-e- Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Jammu (SKUAST-J).
During the meeting, the Committee recommended release of twelve new crop varieties; three of Basmati rice (Jammu basmati 118, Jammu basmati 123 and Jammu basmati 138), two of lentil (Jammu Lentil 71 and Jammu lentil 144) and one each of Lobia (Jammu Lobia Super 60), Rajmash (Bhaderwah Rajmash BR 104), Radish (Jammu Radish 45 / CR 45), Broad bean (Jammu Broad bean 01), Tomato (Jammu Cherry Tomato 01), walnut (variety Bhushan) and pecan-nut (SJPP-25), after lot of deliberations.
Navin Chaudhary appreciated the efforts of breeders of these varieties and stressed on continuation of such novel efforts.
Vice-Chancellor SKUAST-J, Prof. J.P. Sharma opined that improved varieties are must for the growth of farming sector. Earlier, Director Research, Dr. Jag Paul Sharma, through a presentation briefed the meeting about the specific features of each variety which had been proposed for release before the Committee.
Director Agriculture, Jammu, Inderjeet emphasized on inclusion of these new varieties in the seed chain for enhancing food and nutritional security in J&K.
The meeting was also attended by Samoon, Director, Law Enforcement, AP&FWD; Dr. D.K. Srivastava, Secretary, Central Seed Committee; B. K. Chandan, Joint Director, Agriculture Extension, Jammu; M.D. Iqbal, Joint Director (Input) Agri. Deptt. Jammu; Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Seed Analyst, STL, Jammu; Rahul Jamwal, Divisional Seed Certification Officer, Deptt. of Agriculture, Jammu; Aijaz Hassan, Secretary, Co-convener, SSSC; K. K. Sharma, Agriculture Economist; Shoib Yusaf Khan, Technical Officer, DSCO, Kashmir; and progressive farmers Kulbhushan Khajuria; Bakshi Ganesh Das and Krishi Pandit.