Jammu, Dec 2: Chief Secretary (CS) Arun Kumar Mehta impressed upon the officers of agriculture and allied sector to make the agriculture sector more attractive and remunerative with attractive economic returns for farmers.
An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that chairing a meeting to discuss the financial structuring of policy for holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors in J&K here, the CS called for a multi pronged strategy as the sector was going through large-scale interventions to increase farmers’ income manifold and be more profitable.
He said that to achieve better results on the ground, the department had to work in a mission mode to facilitate the farmers in such a way that the farmer would sustain beyond government support at the end of five years or so.
Mehta called upon the concerned that J&K should become a role model as a union territory.
He said that any scheme becomes successful only if it was implemented well on the ground.
The CS said that there should be continuity for the implementation of these agricultural interventions on the ground with clear withdrawal strategy so that farmers would reap maximum benefits even after external support winds up for them.
Earlier, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Agriculture Production Department, Atal Dullo made a detailed presentation on envisioning robust growth in agriculture and allied sectors in J&K.
The meeting held a threadbare discussion over the list of projects cleared by the Apex Committee.
The meeting discussed development of seed and seed multiplication chain in PPP, promotion of niche crops in J&K, farm mechanisation and automation in detail while deliberating over interventions, output, and outcome in the particular sector.
Besides, the meeting held discussion on other projects already cleared by the Apex Committee for implementation J&K. While summing up the discussion, it was informed that with the infusion of Rs 5013 crore, the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) was projected to increase from Rs 37,559 crore per year at 2.02 percent to 65,701 crore per year at 11.08 percent.
It was given out that livelihood would be secured for 13 lakh farm families with additional SDGP of Rs 28,142 crore per year.
Similarly, 18,861 additional enterprises would be created to generate additional 2.88 lakh jobs and skill development for over 2.5 lakh persons to be trained in agri-skills.
