New Delhi, Feb 2: Minister of agriculture, Ghulam Hassan Mir today said there is a dire need to provide J&K with various All India Coordinated Research Centres to bring about improvement in the agriculture sector.
 He said with an All India Coordinated Research Project on farm implements and machinery, there can be brought about a lot of improvement in sectors like vegetables, agro forestry, potatoes, and mushrooms.
 The minister was speaking at the annual general meeting of ICAR (Indian Council for Agriculture and Research) held today at New Delhi.  
 Sharad Pawar Minister Agriculture & Food Processing Industries chaired the council meet. 
 Mir said J&K is very rich in agro bio diversity and has maximum rainfall area therefore establishment of ICAR research complex on the pattern of north eastern region is necessary to cater to the research need of J&K particularly for rain fed agriculture areas.
 The minister while addressing the council said that the youth is less interested in the agriculture sector. He said there is a need of adopting a strategy which could attract the youth towards this sector however this requires profitable glamorous agro activities which could show increase in the growth of agro productions
 He impressed for strengthening of existing AICPR on rice in terms of staff and infrastructural facilities to start hybrid varieties.
 He asked for the support of ICAR for providing of provisions of mobile soil testing laboratories to KVKs of the state and  bringing backward districts of Kulgam, Shopian, Bandipura, Poonch, Reasi and Ramban of J&K under NAIP project under component III “Sustainable Rural livelihood security (SRLS)” so that socio economic status of poor farmers of these districts are enhanced as the state has potential of growing almost all cereal, oilseed, pulse, vegetable and horticultural crops in addition to various high value low volume cops like Saffron, Kalazeera, Basmati rice and Bhaderwah Rajmash and also pashmina which is produced in the Ladakh region of the state.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 2 Feb 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
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