SRINAGAR, APRIL 06: Principal Secretary, Agriculture Production and Farmers Welfare Department, Navin Kumar Choudhary, today chaired a meeting of officers to chalk out the strategy for procurement of seed and preparedness for Kharif season, 2021.

Director, Agriculture, Choudhary Mohammad Iqbal; Joint Director Seeds, Pesticides and Fertilizers Kashmir; Joint Director, Farms, Spices, Medicinal Plants, Procurement Mandis and Land Use; Joint Director, Apiculture and Mushroom Development; Joint Director, Agriculture Extension; Joint Director Marketing PHM, Infrastructure, and FM and Joint Director Agriculture Engineering of Kashmir division participated in the meeting while Director, Agriculture Production and Farmers Welfare Department, Jammu, KK Sharma and other officers from Jammu division attended online.

The meeting held threadbare discussion on procedure for procuring different crop seeds from National Seed Corporation, State, and Private agencies besides preparedness for Kharif Season 2021.

Principal Secretary, while speaking on the occasion, stressed framing a three-year vision of seed procurement for increasing the production of crops in Jammu and Kashmir. He emphasized the formulation of broad guidelines for the procurement of seeds. He directed for quality check and testing of seeds before distribution among farmers besides asking the concerned for seed procurement from certified suppliers like National Seed Corporation.

Navin asked the officers to optimally channelize their resources for the promotion of cash crops cultivation including vegetables, medicinal plants, spices, chili, potato seed, and cumin. He directed for employing a proper technical strategy to ensure quality seed supply from reliable agencies.

Principal Secretary directed for installation of technical infrastructure for genome mapping of seeds to check its quality and viability in local climatic conditions besides testing by Universities.

He said that J&K has the potential to become a seed supplier for the entire country and called for conducting a block-wise survey and identification of suitable cash crops