DirectorAgriculture, Jammu, Sh P. S. Rathore along with team of officer conducted anintensive tour of Samba and Kathua districts to   inspectthe progress of various Farmer Welfare Schemes and field activities being undertaken by Department of Agriculture.

DirectorAgriculture inspected mushroom production unit at Rakh Dhayansar, Sroreestablished under the guidance of department with the capacity of 2500 bags,where it was informed that about Rs. 5 to 6 lakhs is being earned by the concernedfarmer annually. At Village Rampur of Vijaypur Zone, Director Agriculturevisited the organic cluster spared over 20 Hacters  covering 50 farmers where cultivation ofExotic Vegetables like Broculli, Letuice, Red Cauliflower, nursery of differentvegetables under tubular poly house and Amla as mix cropping is being undertakensuccessfully. Director Agriculture also inaugurated custom hiring center atvillage Ranjli, Ghagwal managed by a group of seven progressives farmers   forwhich subsidy to the tune of Rs. 7.2 lakh have been provided under Sub Missionfor Agriculture Mechanization (SMAM).

 Director Agriculture, while interacting withthe farmers asked them to diversify their farming through activities underApiculture, Mushroom, Seed Production and adoption of latest agriculturetechnology to achieve the goal of doubling the farmer’s income. He stressedupon the farmers to go for the production of exotic and high value vegetablesunder protected and controlled conditions to get round the year production forhigh returns.  Rathore further advisedthem to explore the full marketing potential of the specialized vegetableproduce by Product Branding, Value Addition and Better Market Linkages.  

            Laterin Kathua district, Director visited farmer field at Village Logate where highvalue Dragan Fruit Crop has been grown as inter crop with vegetables on an areaof 20 Kanals with high-tech drip-irrigation system. Director agriculture alongwith team of officers also visited organic cluster at Village Seswan, Tanda andfarmers field of exotic vegetable grower, Sh Kewal kumar of Ganga chak, Hiranagar. Sh Rathore on the occasion  directed the officers to activate the fieldfunctionaries to reach out to the farmer’s field for making them fully aware ofdifferent schemes  and adhere to codalformalities while implementation of  allschemes.

Theteam of officer including Chief Agriculture Officer Samba, Sh Jahangeer Shafi,Chief Agriculture Officer Kathua, Sh Arun Gupta, DAO (Extension), Sanjeev RaiGupta, ADO (Vegetable), Satish Sharma, Farm management Specialist, FTC Jammu,Deepak Kumar, SDAO, Samba, Tilak Raj Sharma, SDAO, Dayalchak, ManoharLal andother senior officers accompanied the Director during the visit.