JAMMU: Secretary to Government, Floriculture & Horticulture Sanjeev Verma reviewed the functioning of Horticulture department in a meeting held here on Saturday.
The meeting was attended by the Director Horticulture Jammu, Anil Kumar Sharma, Dy Director Horticulture (Central), Chief Horticulture Officers and other Officers of Jammu Division.
Verma exhorted upon the District heads to gear up their field functionaries and work in a cohesive way for integration of various components for informing the farmers. He stressed on sensitizing the farming community so that the activities and development programmes of department are executed at grass root level.
Verma emphasised upon the officers to prepare perspective plan of the nurseries so that they are developed on modern lines to produce high yielding varieties for the benefit of the farming community. He reiterated that the launch of MIDH in the state shall prove in a big way in uplifting the income of the farmers. He also advised the officers to increase the area to be certified for organic farming as Jammu Division has great potential for organic certification especially in Poonch, Rajouri, Kishtwar ,Doda, Reasi, Udhampur and Kathua so that farmers get good return. He also emphasized upon the officers to give more thrust Olive and Kiwi fruit cultivation which may become boon for Jammu Division
Earlier, the chair was informed by the Director Horticulture about the Physical and Financial achievements made by the department during 2014-15 under different Centrally Sponsored Schemes and State Plan Schemes. It was informed that an area of 542 hectare has been brought under fresh Horticulture plantation during rainy season. The farmers were trained to adopt modern techniques for water conservation in rainfed areas. Apart from this, 130 mobile demonstrations were conducted in fruit preservation / processing and value addition and 216 people were imparted one month training aimed at setting up of small scale units.