STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: A one-day district level fruit show cum seminar was organised by Department of Horticulture, Jammu at Government Model High School premises Satwari under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture.
The district level fruit show cum seminar was inaugurated by District Development Commissioner, Jammu Ajeet Kumar Sahu.
Director Horticulture Jammu Anil Kumar Sharma, Director Research SKUAST-Jammu, Dr. V.K Wali, ACD Jammu, BDO Mathwar, Chief of NHPC, Provincial and others were also present on the occasion.
The District Development Commissioner exhorted upon the orchardists to take up the horticulture activities on commercial lines to earn additional income as is being adopted by orchardists in other parts of the State.
Expressing satisfaction over the quality of fruit displayed at the stalls , he advised participants to take advantage of all the incentives being provided by the department.
While appreciating sizeable participation of women, he asked to take up food processing and preservation activity of the department to their homes to encase the skill at domestic level.
Earlier, welcoming the participants, especially a number of females drawn from different Horticulture Zones of Jammu District, Director Horticulture, Jammu presented a detailed resume of schemes and incentives being offered by the department.
He stressed on the production of organic fruit by way of adopting organic farming, conservative use of water by adoption of drip irrigation systems and utilisation of solar energy for lifting of water for irrigating orchards and rejuvenation of old and senile orchards.
Chief Horticulture Officer Jammu, S. Kirtan Singh Raina presented a detailed account of the achievements made during 2013-14 which includes an area of 63 Ha of land being covered by plantation of improved cultivars of fresh fruits, 13 units of water sources besides 9 units of vermi-compost pits and a resume of activities for 2014-15 of the schemes run by the Department of Horticulture in Jammu District. Apart from this a detailed account of the newly introduced Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) was presented during the seminar.
A mobile soil testing Lab donated by NHPC was handed over to the Department of Horticulture Jammu by the Chief Guest on the occasion. Approximately 500 No of fruit exhibits comprising of Citrus, Amla, Papaya and others were displayed at the show. The allied departments and entrepreneurs also displayed activities in 20 stalls setup at the event which included Department of Horticulture (P&M), Sericulture, Floriculture, Sheep Husbandry, Fisheries, IIIM, SVEEP, NACOF etc. A vote of thanks was presented by Chief Horticulture Officer, Jammu.
In order to promote systematic voters Education and Election Participation (SVEEP) programme, a stall was also set up by Rural Development Department in the fruit show in which facilities of online registration, EVM training, Form-6 for registration of new voters, signature campaign/pledge to vote were provided.
