Srinagar: At a time when the government asserts that the Geographical Indication (GI) tagging has built a “global reputation” for Kashmiri Saffron, Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture Production Department, Atal Dulloo Saturday said that 12 more crops had been submitted for the approval of the specialised tagging.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Dulloo said that the GI tag of Kashmiri Saffron had made it “prominent” in the international market and built its reputation globally.
“GI tag is making saffron a success story,” he said. “We are also working on promoting niche crops including Kala Zera, walnut, and apricot among others.”
Dulloo said that the government had prepared a list of 12 more new crops and submitted them for the GI tag approval.
He said that crop diversification was very vital to enhance the income of the farmers and the government was working hard to achieve desirable results.
Dulloo said that the GI tag would not only enhance the farmer’s incomes but also provide sustainable and secure income generation sources for them.
He said that the different areas of Jammu and Kashmir, with their unique weather conditions, were being studied and farmers were being guided to work out the economics of niche crops including, Basmati rice, pecan nut, Kala Zera, walnut, and saffron.
“Farmers are being guided to cultivate niche crops which will enhance their socio-economic setup. This will have a significant effect on diversification of farms growing niche crops,” Dulloo said. “There is a need to introduce technical innovations in the production of niche crops.”
He said that the government aims to double the income of the farmers and for that, the government was working on different fronts.
Dulloo said that the losses in the agricultural sector had to be checked and the government was robustly working on marketing and promotion of the product with the GI tag.
He said that this had enhanced the secondary economic activities here, which in turn boosted the regional economic development.
Dulloo emphasised that the protection of Geographical Indications was creating a robust image and reputation of the product in the mind of the consumers and rewarding the producers with incentives and a means to exchange cultural values.