SRINAGAR: Underlining the significance of sericulture sector in Jammu and Kashmir, Commissioner/Secretary Agriculture Production, Dr. Asgar Samoon today said that Government will take more steps to promote this sector in order to generate adequate revenue to make it a major contributor in the GDP growth.
While reviewing the performance of Sericulture Department at a meeting held at SKICC here today, the Commissioner/Secretary called upon the officers and other stakeholders to play a pro-active role in boosting the cocoon production in the State. He stressed the need for evolving innovative techniques to improve the quality of silk and its allied products. He said Government attaches topmost priority to promote sericulture sector as State is known for producing high quality silk products which attracts lakhs of tourists visiting the State round the year. He said that quality should be the major and only benchmark so that the clients purchase the Kashmir silk products without any kind of doubt.
Emphasizing the need for broad basing the ambit of silk production in every nook and corner of the State, the Dr. Samoon directed the concerned officers to explore possibilities to identify new areas of potential so that these activities are started in these areas. He said large number of youth and farmers should be encouraged to involve in this important sector. This will overcome the problem of unemployment as also revenue generating for the government. He stressed the need for highlighting the importance of the sector and measures initiated by the Government for its promotion. He said Government has introduced several schemes for the entrepreneurs to take up this venture as their livelihood activity and all out efforts should be made to educate the aspiring beneficiaries to avail the benefits of such schemes.
Urging the Central Government and public sector banks to help the entrepreneurs to establish their viable ventures in the State, the Commissioner/Secretary said the main focus of the banks should be to encourage the beneficiaries by providing hustle-free finances. He appreciated the performance of the department for achieving the benchmarks, though he called for more efforts to improve the sector. He also stressed the need for a well-knit strategy achieve the targets, adding that coordinated approach with different stakeholders can help in addressing the issues related to the development of this sector, said Dr. Samoon.
While briefing the meeting about the achievements of the department, Director Sericulture, J&K, Dr. Malik Farooq, informed that Department has earmarked to achieve cocoon production of 2100 MTs and raw silk production of 300 MTs by the end of 12th Plan (2012-17) coupled with more and more employment generation. He said sericulture being a traditional practice since ages and efforts will be stepped up to improve the infrastructure to give boost to the production of quality silk and its products.
Listing the measures initiated to improve the production, Dr. Malik said that Department has closely involved the farmers for adopting this activity for their livelihood. He said private sector will be involved in a big way to broad-base the ambit of silk production. Farmers are being trained about the innovative techniques and improving quality and production and timely marketing of cocoons. Mulberry nurseries will be upgraded for producing quality plants with the help of experts in the field. At present there are 173 departmental nurseries with 30 lakh saplings production capacity annually across the State. He said at present there are as many as 29400 numbers of Rearers are functioning in over 2500 sericulture villages. Present annual cocoon production has touched 1022 MTs that has generated revenue to the tune of Rs. 22.26 crore.
Prominent among those present in the meeting included, Joint Secretary, Central Silk Board, Dr. R.D. Singh, Vice Chancellor, Islamic University, Awantipora, Dr. A. R. Trag, Chief General Manager, NABARD, Director Industries, Kashmir/Jammu, Managing Director, J&K Industries Ltd, General Manager, Silk Factory Rajbagh, Srinagar, Director Kashmir Silk Cluster Development Organization, scientists of SKUAST, CITH, representatives of various public sector banks, entrepreneurs associated with the sericulture sector and other senior officers of the department.
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