SRINAGAR: The two days workshop on promotion of organic farming in Jammu and Kashmir was inaugurated by Principal Secretary, Agriculture Production & Farmers Welfare Department (AP&FWD), Navin Kumar Choudhary in presence of Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-K, Prof. JP Sharma here.
Principal Secretary AP&FWD, laid stress that scientists and officers of the department should develop a mechanism for inculcating organic culture among the farming community. He informed that hard targets have to be kept for next 3 years in order to make transition towards organic agriculture. He added that marketing and packaging along with regress certification in organic products have to be undertaken to facilitate promotion of organic farming at grass root level.
The Principal Secretary asked the scientists of the university to prioritize the research based on farmer issues. He further asked them to work in an integrated manner in order to convert farmer into agri-entrepreneur and also encourage value addition of low volume-high value products.
On the occasion, Vice Chancellor SKUAST (K) complimented the Principal Secretary for his active role in conceptualizing this workshop in order to make the dream of organic farming a reality in the UT.
He apprised the Principal Secretary that the university is working in close coordination with the department for mapping different districts in order to revise the organic map in the UT so that One District One Product is identified for its further promotion and branding.
Director General Horticulture, Aijaz Ahmad Bhat, while speaking during the workshop, stressed on augmenting organic input production to reduce dependence on chemical fertilizers and termed the workshop a good beginning.
During the technical session of the workshop deliberations were made upon the opportunities and challenges and devising policy guide lines for promoting organic farming in JK encompassing the transition process, production to marketing, value chain as well as issues related to certification.
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