SRINAGAR: The Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta Wednesday asked the Agriculture, Production & Farmers Welfare Department to ensure 100% saturation in case of Soil Health Cards (SHCs). He urged the concerned to generate awareness amongst the farming community to achieve better productivity and enhanced income through proper utilisation of SHCs.
Mehta chaired a meeting to review the achievements of the Agriculture, Production & Farmers Welfare Department under National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and Sub-Mission on Agricultural Extension (SMAE-ATMA).
It was informed that during the financial year 2020-21, the Department achieved 93% targets under the Oil Seeds (OS) and Tree Borne Oil Seeds (TBO) category, and 72% under food grains category. The Department further undertook cluster demonstrations, besides, providing cropping system based training to the stakeholders.
The Chief Secretary impressed upon the officers to adopt convergence strategy by constituting convergence teams of the concerned departments at the Panchayat level. Emphasising the need to ensure fruitful and frequent interactions amongst the field functionaries and farmers, the Chief Secretary directed the department to ensure proper interface between the two, at least twice a month.
The Chief Secretary called on universities to contribute towards knowledge sharing through joint and coordinated efforts with the department at the grass root level.
The Department was asked to evolve a strategy to progressively replace poppy-cultivation with suitable crops. He also urged the concerned for plan formulation for encouraging cash-crop farming to fetch greater incomes for farmers.
The State Food Security Mission Executive Committee approved the annual action plan for financial year 2021-22 amounting to Rs 17.25 Crore. The Committee also approved proposals for undertaking cluster demonstrations, seed distribution, area expansion under olive cultivation, farm mechanisation, besides, providing cropping system based training to the stake holders.
The Chief Secretary also approved the annual action plan for Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) for the financial year 2020-21 amounting to Rs 9.90 crore.
Later, while reviewing the Sub-Mission on Agriculture Extension (SAME- ATMA), the Chief Secretary approved the work plan for this fiscal worth Rs. 23.89 crore. This includes farmer training through exposure visits, research-extension farmer linkages, and farm information dissemination, among others.
The Chief Secretary laid emphasis on proper documentation of farmer exposure visits for subsequent targeted planning. He also stressed enhancing Women Food Security Groups which can provide for a powerful tool to ensure family security.
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